


A Fairy's Heart

by Angel_Of_Darkness_2004



Series: A Fairy's Heart [1]
Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Betrayal, Dai Matou Enbu | Grand Magic Games Arc, F/F, F/M, Female Natsu Dragneel, Implied Relationships, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Male Lucy - Freeform, Self-Harm, Smart Natsu Dragneel, Suicide Attempt
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-30
Updated: 2019-02-01
Packaged: 2019-06-18 22:41:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 21
Words: 21,670
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15496314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Angel_Of_Darkness_2004/pseuds/Angel_Of_Darkness_2004
Summary: After being betrayed and beaten by the people she called friends, Natsumi Dragneel just wants to end it all. But after being rescued, she finds a new reason to live. Seven years later, Natsumi is back but not the same happy lucky person she was.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone! And welcome to my first story on AO3! I created this almost a year ago and posted it on Fanfiction.net but I decided to cross post it her. This is actually a rewrite of it since I didn't like where I was going with it. The original is on Fanfiction.net under my profile Angel Of Darkness 2004. Go check it out if you want. 
> 
> Before you read, I need to make a few things clear:
> 
> 1\. This is a Fem Natsu story if you didn't already know.  
> 2\. I have already paired Natsumi with one of my girl OCs so if you don't like that stuff, don't read.  
> 3\. This story has attempted suicide and self harm. If you get triggered by that stuff, don't read.  
> 4\. Natsumi will be very different from Natsu but they are still the same person.
> 
> That's all I have to say so without further ado, I hope you enjoy!

It was raining, she noticed as she lays by the river. The sky was gray and she couldn’t help but think it was beautiful. She tried to raise her arm but ended up wincing in pain. Her whole body was covered in bruises and cuts. She was pretty sure her leg was numb to from Gray’s ice magic. 

 

_ ‘How did I allow this to happen?’ _ she questioned.

 

She couldn’t help but blame herself for the other’s changes. She knew it was  **_her_ ** fault.

 

_ ‘I could've done something. This didn’t have to go this far,’ _ she thought.

 

**_She_ ** was Manami Fukui and she had joined the guild five months ago. She seemed perfect. She was kind, careful, compassionate, and everyone seemed to love her. But she changed them.

 

_ ‘When did it first start or rather, when did I first notice the changes?’  _ she asked herself.

 

She first noticed the changes two weeks after Manami joined the guild. She was on a mission with her since it was the first mission Manami was doing since she joined the guild. They completed the mission but she ended up doing most of the work, When they got back, however, Manami was praised for completing the mission and she was ignored.

 

_ ‘She stole everyone dear to me,’ _ she thought bitterly.

 

She had been in a relationship with Luke for three months when Manami joined the guild. There anniversary was coming up and Natsumi had been super excited for weeks. But when she went to Luke’s apartment, she found him kissing Manami.

 

_ ‘Thank the gods for Juvia,’ _ she thought as she thought of her best friend.

 

As she grew apart from the others, she became better friends with Juvia. She didn’t like Manami very much and she didn’t either so they bonded over their hatred for Manami. She supported her through everything that happened and she couldn't be more grateful.

 

_ ‘It’s all her damn fault,’ _ she thought angrily, clenching her fist even though it hurt.

 

Today was the last straw. Manami came in with burns and bruises. As everyone worried over her and her wounds were healed, she told them that she had attacked her. She denied it but the others didn’t care. They beat her until she was bleeding. By some miracle, she was able to stand and walk to the river where she collapsed. The river was a sort of comforting place for her.

 

_ ‘They will pay,’ _ she swore before losing consciousness.

 

Her name was Natsumi Dragneel. She was broken, beaten, and betrayed. And while she still cared for her friends, they still betrayed her and she wasn’t sure she could ever forgive them. But she would get her revenge against the one that turned everyone against her.


	2. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Natsumi wakes up from a dream and decides to commit suicide.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I decided to post another chapter since I want to catch up with the chapters I have posted on Fanfiction.net. I hope you guys enjoy!
> 
> Warning: This chapter contains suicide and self harm. Read at your own risk.

Natsumi stared at the ceiling of her bedroom. She had woken up a few minutes ago from a nightmare. But it wasn't a nightmare. It was a memory. The moment everyone betrayed her haunted her every time she fell asleep and as a result, she hasn't gotten any rest for a weeks.

Natsumi slowly stood from her bed and slowly walked to her bathroom. Once she got there, she grabbed her knife from her cabinet and slowly her arm. A thin line of blood formed and ran down her arm. She didn't do anything to stop it and just stared at her wound with a blank expression.

She had started cutting herself when the guild started to ignore her. It got worse once they betrayed her and now her arms were covered in scars as a result. She never told Juvia about it since she knew that she would try to stop her from doing it. But she needed the relief cutting herself provided.

Speaking of Juvia, she was on a solo mission. She would usually be there to support Natsumi but she was running low on money. Natsumi had to reassure her that she would be fine alone before Juvia would leave. And since Juvia was gone, she was free to cut herself.

Juvia had been hesitant to leave her alone when she stumbled on Natsumi trying to commit suicide. Natsumi had been contemplating suicide for weeks but she never had the guts to do it. When she was about to, Juvia would pop into her mind and stop her from killing herself.

However, since Juvia was gone, thoughts of suicide bubbled in her mind once again.

' _Would anyone really care if I wasn't here?'_  she wondered as she made another cut to her arm.

' _No, they wouldn't. They have their lives. They don't need me anymore. Heck, Juvia doesn't need me anymore. She would get over my death eventually and live a happy life with_  Gray,' she concluded.

Natsumi steeled herself, her decision made. She looked at a picture she had on her nightstand one final time. The picture was of her, Erza, Luke, and Gray, happy and without any care in the world. Erza was somewhat off to the side, looking over them like a mother would her children. Luke was also there, a fond smile on his lips as he watched Natsumi and Gray start fighting. Gray looked angry but anyone who knew him could see he enjoys the fights they had. Natsumi also looked angry, but there was also a fond look in her eyes.

Natsumi remembered when that picture was taken. It was a few weeks before Manmai came, and Mira, who had been watching them with a soft smile, had snapped a picture. She was so happy back then, with no cares in the world, adventures waiting around every corner, and friends to keep her company. But now, it was all gone. All her friends, all her family, and all the memories they made, gone. All because of her.

She grabbed a note from one of her draws addressed to Juvia. She had written it beforehand a day or two ago when she thought of committing suicide again. Juvia deserved to know why she did it. After getting her note, she then sat on the bathroom floor, her knife in her hand and her note to Juvia beside her.

' _This is it,'_  she thought.

She thought of everything that happened so far and a small smile appeared on her face filled with genuine joy.

_Everyone, thank you for everything. Thank you for being with me through the good and bad times and supporting me all the way. I hope you have live a happy life. To Juvia, I'm sorry I didn't say goodbye and good luck with Gray. I hope you have a happy life with him._

And with that she stabbed herself. She laid down on the floor and stared at the ceiling as blood flowed out of her body. Her life flashed before her eyes as her breathing slowed and her eyes began to close.

_Goodbye everyone. I love you._

And with that, Natsumi Dragneel closed her eyes for what she presumed to be for the last time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And cut. I actually had to edit the end of the chapter so it doesn't seem final. It worked out and here's the result. I hope you guys enjoyed and i'll see you later! Bye!


	3. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Juvia finds out Natsumi committed suicide.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I know I posted a chapter yesterday but I already posted this on Fanfiction.net so I wanted to post it here. Usually, I post every Friday and after today, it'll stay that way. I may post twice a week if I feel like it but a chapter will always be posted on Friday unless something comes up. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy!

Juvia was having a pretty good day so far. She just returned from a job, got food for her and Natsumi, and chatted with some friends she made in town. The only downside so far was that she had to deal with Manami when she went back to the guild briefly to report. Her hatred was natural of course. She had hurt Natsumi, her best and really only friend, and made everyone turn against her.

Despite her anger at Manami though, she didn't blame the rest of the guild. She wanted to but Natsumi still cared for them. But speaking of her friend, she was walking to Natsumi's cottage to check up on her and spend time with her. Ever since the betrayal, they had grown even closer to the point that they were like sisters to each other.

Natsumi's house was small. It hardly got clean though that changed recently. She stayed in there all the time now, never showing her face and never opening the door for anyone but Juvia. Happy, Natsumi's Exceed and practically her son, used to live with her but now he lived with Manami. Just thinking about it made Juvia's blood boil with anger. Her hate always increased when she thought about what she did.

The rest of the guild didn't understand her hate for her as they thought Manami was great. She didn't know why they liked her so much because she didn't do anything to gain their attention and affection. That's why she only went to the guildhall for missions. She spent the rest of the time in town or with Natsumi.

' _They really have changed,'_ Juvia thought as she remembered what life was like before Manami came.

Juvia didn't know what prompted the change but she knew it had something to due with Manami's arrival. When Manami first came to the guild and acted like the opposite of Natsumi, which got her many positive reactions since people were sick of Natsumi destroying stuff and acting disrespectful. But she knew that wasn't all. She had a feeling that Manami did something to them but she didn't know what.

She also knew that Manami had ulterior motives. She remembered when Manami persuaded Erza, Luke, and Gray to kick Natsumi out. She remembered Manami beating Natsumi and then mocking her with the guild soon following like her puppets. She remembered seeing Manami hurt herself and blame Natsumi for it. She remembered everything.

She hated how Manami ruined Natsumi's friendship with Team Natsumi, she hated how Manami mocked Natsumi, she hated Manami for ruining one of the cutest couples ever, she hated how she ruined her family. She loathed her but there was nothing she could do.

Juvia finally reached Natsumi's house. She knocked once, and then stepped back, waiting for Natsumi to open the door. When a minute passed and Natsumi didn't answer, she knocked again. Still no reply. Juvia began to panic, thinking the worst.

"Natsumi! I'm coming in!" she yelled before using her magic to open the door.

Immediately, she noticed that it was silent. Natsumi usually made some sort of noise and she knew she wasn't asleep as she snored when she did. She ran to the bedroom and found a note on the bed. Natsumi's bedroom was small with a bed, a nightstand, a closet, and a dresser with a mirror on it. Juvia had persuaded her to get a bed since it would be more comfortable for her since she started staying in here all the time. She picked it up and on the front it read this:

_To my best friend Juvia._

She quickly opened the letter and read the contents.

_Dear Juvia,_

_I never expected I would write a note to you to tell you what happened. I thought I'd always be there with you but after what happened, I can't take it anymore._

_When they first betrayed me, I started breaking. The crack that formed never healed but I smiled anyways. Only you noticed my smile was fake. Then as time passed and they broke me more and more, you were always there to comfort me. I was shocked at first but we ended up becoming the best of friends. And when the final betrayal came and my heart broke, you came to my house and comforted me and tended to my wounds. I will always be grateful for what you have done, but I can't take it anymore. I can't take the heart break, their words, their betrayal._

_You were the only thing that kept me going but I realized that you didn't need me. I'm a burden, I destroy so many things they dock the pay, I'm useless. The world would be better off without me. Afterall, who needs someone who destroys so much and causes so many people grief?_

_This is goodbye. I'm going to a better place. I'll be able to see everyone's who died. I hope you understand. As for all my belongings, they are yours now. I trust you to take care of everything._

_Also, can you do me one last favor and send a message to the guild? Tell them I'm dead and that even after everything they did, I still care for them. But also tell them that I might never forgive them. In the end, I might of killed myself but their words and actions killed me first._

_Goodbye Juvia. I love you, my sister._

_Sincerely,_

_Natsumi Dragneel_

Juvia stared at the letter blankly for a moment as Natsumi's words sunk in. Natsumi was dead. Her sister was dead. And it was all their fault. Juvia collapsed, her legs too weak to support her. She felt numb. She stared at her hands that started shaking. Then, she let out a loud sob. She cried and cried, mourning for her sister who had lost the will to live.

She didn't know how long she stayed there and sobbed. All she knew was that Natsumi was dead. She felt heavy and tired and before she knew it, she fell asleep.

* * *

Juvia woke up the next day, tired but refreshed. She looked at the mirror and saw how terrible he looked. Her hair was messy, her eyes were red and swollen, and her face was puffy. She thought about last night and went to the adjoining bathroom, where Natsumi's blood stained the floor.

' _Hold up. If Natsumi's blood is here, where's her body?'_ Juvia thought, panicking a little.

She quickly looked around for a note and found one in the cabinet. It said:

_Do not worry. I took her body to a safe location. Don't go looking for her._

Juvia stared at it for a moment. Her mind cleared and she quickly decided on what she needed to do. She walked to the window in the bedroom. She fell to her knees and prayed.

' _Natsumi, I hope are are at peace, wherever you are. I'm sorry I couldn't save you from yourself. Rest assured, they will pay. One way or another.'_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's convenient that Juvia didn't find Natsumi's body but I didn't know what else to do. That's all I have to say so I'll see you in the next chapter! Bye!


	4. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Natsumi wakes up and is confused on why she isn't dead. We also get introduced to a new character: Lila!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I am back with another chapter. I'm really ahead in my writing right now so I may start posting this twice a week. Maybe Wednesday. Anyways, I have put up a poll on who Natsumi should be with again. I started to have my doubts on who Natsumi should be paired up with so I'll leave it up to you. Since this is on Ao3, just comment who she should be paired with. The choices are: 
> 
> Lila  
> Laxus  
> Hisui  
> Laxus AND Lila  
> Other
> 
> In the meantime, I hope you enjoy!
> 
> Warning: Mention of self harm and suicide

When Natsumi woke up, she was confused. She was supposed to be dead. So why wasn't she? Originally, she thought she was heaven but the pain she felt was too real for her to be there. The room she was small and dark. There was a nightstand to her left with a lamp on it. She reached out and felt around for the switch which she eventually found.

"Ow," she hissed as light assaulted her.

Natsumi looked around the room a bit before trying to stand up. Pain instantly shot through her, forcing her to lay down. Suddenly, the door opened, revealing a girl around her age with a bowl of soup in her hand and a cup of water on a tray. The girl had brown hair held in a low hanging ponytail, chocolate brown eyes ( _Like Luke's, she thought bitterly)_ , and was wearing a plain black tank top and jean shorts.

"I'm glad you're finally awake. I was worried you might never wake up," the mysterious girl said.

Natsumi looked at her suspiciously and asked, "Who are you and where am I? And why I am not dead?"

"My name is Lila and you're at my apartment," she started to explain calmly, "I was walking in the woods and stumbled upon your little cottage. I was curious and walked in. While I toured your house, I went to the bathroom and saw blood on the floor. When I saw you, I tried not to let more blood flow out and once I did that, I brought you to my house so I could fully treat you."

Natsumi stared at Lila for a moment before questioning, "How long was I out?"

"You lost a lot of blood and was out for about two weeks. I thought you were going to die for a while and you did for a minute or two before I revived you."

Natsumi looked down and stared at her wrist where you could still see the scars from the cuts she made. She was sure if she looked at her stomach, she would see a similar scar but much bigger.

"Thank you," she whispered.

Lila's eyes softened and said, "You're welcome. For now though, you need to eat."

She walked closer and placed the tray on the nightstand before leaving the room. Natsumi stared at nothing for a while, contemplating on what she should do next.

' _Juvia and everyone else thinks I'm dead. The blood on the floor and the note I left are proof of that. I could go back or I could move on. I could travel, learn new techniques, and change who I am completely. The guild doesn't care anymore and I need to do something with my new found freedom. Maybe I can ask that Lila person where I can go,'_ Natsumi thought with a nod of her head to solidify her decision.

Content with her idea, she grabbed the bowl of soup Lila left, suddenly hungry for food and something new to explore.

* * *

Lila hummed as she made some food for Natsumi. Her new guest was nothing like what the media said she was. The media was usually bias towards some subjects but with Natsumi they weren't. They portrayed her as a nice, kind, destructive, loud, and rude girl with a big heart and protective streak for her family. And from stories she heard about her, they were right.

That was the old Natsumi though. This new Natsumi was still kind but quieter and less rude and destructive. It was completely different from what Lila expected and really shocked her too. What the rumors said, however, was a completely different matter.

A few weeks ago, rumors started circulating that Natsumi hurt a new member of the guild. The people didn't believe it at first, Lila included. But then, Master Makarov released a statement that Sorcerer Weekly published confirming the rumors were true. The people who had either met Natsumi before or knew someone who did suspected foul play and it served to gather more support and belief for Natsumi.

If Lila was honest with herself, the real reason she was at Natsumi's cottage and in the woods, was to see Natsumi and ask what happened. She searched for a while and just as she was about to give up hope, she stumbled upon it. At first, Lila was hesitant to go to the bedroom but after she received no answer when she knocked, she rushed in. She was a completely horrified at what she found and after staring for a minute, set to work to save her. Even now, she thanked the gods for healing magic.

Lila didn't know what to think about her guest but she was determined to find everything she could about her. Her month had just become more interesting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And cut! If you did not read the beginning author's note, I said I have posted a poll on who Natsumi should be with. I've been having doubts lately on the pairing I have set so I leave it to you. Like I said before, comment your answer since Ao3 doesn't have a poll feature. With that said, I hope you guys enjoyed! Bye!


	5. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Juvia tells the guild of Natsumi's "death"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! I'm sorry I haven't updated in awhile but I've been having some sort of writer's block. I couldn't write anything and I ended up ignoring all my stories. Anyways, I'm a bit behind with updating so I'll be updating every other day until I catch up with the chapters I posted on Fanfiction.net. Anyways, I hope you enjoy!

Luke though his life couldn't get any better. Not only did he have a family that supported him fully but he also had a nice girlfriend who was the sweetest girl on the planet. In addition, their team had come back from a major mission and without Natsumi, they were able to complete it with no destruction which meant he was able to pay his rent.

So yeah, life was pretty good for Luke.

Except for one thing… Natsumi Dragneel.

Just the thought of her made him disgusted. Natsumi used to be so nice but she changed. She was mean and jealous especially yo Manami. He was glad they kicked her out of the guild.

"Is something wrong honey?" a sweet voice broke him out of his thoughts.

Luke faced his girlfriend with a soft smile on his face.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just thinking about something," Luke replied.

"About what?" Manami asked curiously.

"Just how beautiful and sweet my girlfriend is," Luke said, making Manami giggle.

They were broken out of their little bubble by the door opening.

"Juvia! How are you?" Wendy asked as she approached the unusually calm girl.

"Hi Wendy," Juvia said in a monotone voice.

"Is something wrong?" Wendy asked concerned.

Luke watched as Juvia's mask borke for a second, showing her pain, sadness, and complete rage.

"What's wrong Juvia?" his girlfriend asked worriedly.

Juvia just glared at her which made Luke glare back.

"What's your problem?" Luke snapped.

"Natsumi is dead, that's my problem," Juvia snapped right back.

Luke stepped back in shock as did the rest of the guild.

"W-what?" Wendy asked, a feeling of devastation overtaking her.

Natsumi was like a sister to her. She was the one who introduced her to the guild and the one that was there for her no matter what.

"Natsumi is dead. She wanted me to pass on a message to you," Juvia replied, more calm now.

Luke heard Gray sigh and say, "What does that bitch want now? Hasn't she done enough?"

"Don't call Natsumi a bitch, you bastard!" Juvia snapped, "And to think she still cared for you!"

"Why do you care so much? She betrayed us!" Erza snapped at her.

Instead of cowering like some would, Juvia stood strong and replied, "You betrayed her, not the other way around!"

"She hurt Manami!" Luke shouted.

"Manami said she hurt her but that doesn't mean she did! ARe you going to take the word of someone you've known for a couple months or someone who've you known for years?" Juvia asked.

When no one answered, Juvia scoffed and said, "That's what I thought. You honestly disgust me. I thought you were a family but I was wrong. You're nothing but traitors."

No one said anything as Juvia calmly walked towards Master Makarov.

"I quit," she said.

"What?" Wendy asked, eyes wide.

"I quit. I refuse to be apart of a guild of traitors," Juvia said, gesturing to remove her mark.

"If any of you want to join me, you are welcome to," she said as Makarov removed her mark.

Wendy looked hesitant before going to Makarov and having her mark removed. She didn't know Juvia but she did know Natsumi and knowing she was dead broke her heart.

"Juvia… where are we going to go?" Wendy asked.

"Anywhere but here," Juvia answered before softening, "We'll find a place for us."

"Okay," Wendy said as she and Juvia walked out of the guild.

Luke just stared at them before cheers rang throughout the guild. He had a feeling something was terribly wrong but he couldn't figure out what.

"Hey Luke, aren't you happy that Natsumi is dead?" Manami said softly from beside him.

The feeling went away immediately as he looked at his girlfriend.

"Of course. Now, let's celebrate," Luke said huskily.

As Luke lead her to his apartment, no one noticed the smug and slightly evil smile Manami had except for one person.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And cut! I have some news to share with you.
> 
> First, you can still vote on who Natsumi should be with. Lila is currently winning. The chpiuces are Lila, Laxus, Wendy, Hisui, Laxus AND Lila, and Other. 
> 
> And second, I have a Tumblr! My username is angelofdarkness2004 and I'll be posting information on OCs I create and when I'll be updating. It's just a resource to know when I'm updating and if you want more information about my OCs so you don't have to.
> 
> Here's the link: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/angelofdarkness2004
> 
> Anyways, I hope you enjoyed~!


	6. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Seven years have past and things have changed...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Sorry I didn't update yesterday but I was too tired yesterday to post anything and posting on Ao3 is tiring. Anyways, I think there's one more chapter before I catch up to Fanfiction.net. I might post it tomorrow or Thursday so look out for that. 
> 
> Also, I posted a companion piece to this story called Juvia's thoughts which is just Juvia's inner thoughts and feelings from when Manami joined the guild to when Natsumi committed suicide.
> 
> With that said though, I hope you enjoy!

**Seven Years Later…**

The sun was just rising as she gazed out from the cliff she was on to the ocean. She had just arrived back and everything was just how she remembered. Natsumi thought back to when everything started seven years ago.

' _It's kind of hard to believe seven years have past. It only seems like yesterday that I became friends with Lila and our adventures started…''_

_Flashback_

_It had been two weeks since Natsumi tried to commit suicide. She was slowly recovering, both emotionally and physically. Natsumi's and Lila's relationship was awkward to say the least. Lila was a stranger to Natsumi and since the betrayal, she didn't give her trust to other people as easy._

_It all changed one day though. It had been exactly one month since the betrayal and Natsumi had been feeling more and more depressed that day. Lila had to check on her more than once to see if she hadn't tried to commit suicide again._

_It was around midday when Lila was bringing food that the dam burst open._

" _Here's your lunch Natsumi!" Lila said cheerfully, hoping to bring Natsumi's mood up._

_Natsumi had been staying in bed all day and only opened her eyes to see Lila before closing them again._

_Lila's face softened and spoke quietly, "Natsumi, I'm always here if you want to talk. It's not good if you hold back how you feel."_

_Natsumi sat up from the bed and said miserably, "What's the point? What's the point of anything anymore?"_

" _Natsumi, I understand they betrayed you but still…" Lila tried to day before getting interrupted by Natsumi._

" _NO! You don't understand! You just don't get it!" she yelled suddenly._

" _Than let me try to understand! Tell me so I can help you!" Lila said in response._

 _Tears started to stream down Natsumi's face as she spoke softly, "They betrayed me. They hurt me. They believed_ _**her** _ _over me, someone they knew for years. They… they… didn't let me explain."_

_Lila spoke softly again and asked, "Why didn't they?"_

_So Natsumi told her everything and by the end of it all, Lila was about as furious as Juvia was._

" _Those fucking bastards! How fucking dare they! Especially that bitch Manami!" she yelled furiously._

_She calmed down a bit after seeing Natsumi's scared face and walked to her bed and hug her. Natsumi laid her head on Lila's shoulder and cried while Lila just stroked her hair and whispered comforting words._

_Flashback End_

They had been friends ever since and were practically sisters. When Natsumi had to change her looks so no one would recognize her, she changed her eye color to brown and her hair color to a light brown, just like Lila's.

' _And the weeks after that were pretty crazy as we started to travel around. I mean, it isn't everyday you meet your dad who just so happens to be a dragon and visits their realm to learn more dragon slaying magic…,'_ she thought with a chuckle as she let her mind wander back to that day.

_Flashback_

_Natsumi and Lila had been travelling for three weeks now and were setting up camp in a forest. They had been travelling for a nearby city called Oaktown. Oaktown was having a festival in a few days which was said to be very festive so Natsumi wanted to see it which Lila agreed to as she had never seen Natsumi so excited before._

_They had been sleeping for a few hours when a roar from deeper in the forest woke them up. They immediately woke up to find out where the roar came from and stumbled upon a clearing in the woods which held a gigantic, red dragon that Natsumi immediately recognized._

" _Igneel!" she cried out cheerfully, making the dragon turn to her._

_The look on his face turned from sadness and anger to surprise._

" _N-n-n-atsumi?" he stuttered._

_Natsumi raced towards him and developed him in a hug as well as she could because he was a dragon._

_Lila looked at the dragon and Natsumi, turning her head back in forth in shock._

" _That's your dad you were always talking about?" she asked in a shout._

_Natsumi sheepishly rubbed the back of her neck and simply said, "Yeah."_

_Lila stared a moment longer before putting her hands up in surrender and saying, "I don't know why I'm so surprised anymore."_

_As their conversation went on, Igneel slowly got out of his shock._

" _Natsumi," he said, getting her full attention._

" _How are you alive?"_

_The simple question replaced the smile on her face with a frown._

_Her face saddened as she quietly asked, "How did you know?"_

" _I felt your magic disappear," he explained._

_Natsumi looked at him in confusion and asked, "How did you feel my magic disappear?"_

" _Dragons have the ability to sense someone's magic level but it only works with people the dragon has didn't answer my question though," Igneel explained._

_Natsumi's face saddened again and explained everything to Igneel. When she was finished, Igneel looked like he could go and burn Magnolia down right there._

" _Natsumi, do you want to go to the Dragon realm?" Igneel asked once his anger subsided._

" _The Dragon Realm?" she asked._

" _Dragons are too massive to live in Earthland and we can get noticed easily. The Dragon Realm is where every type of dragon is found. The realm is split by element," he said._

_Lila and Natsumi looked at each other and nodded._

" _Can I bring my friend here along?" she asked._

_At his nod, she accepted._

_Flashback End_

The Dragon Realm was amazing and very beautiful. Each section had its own advantages and disadvantages. Each section was ruled by the king or queen with a type of dragon slaying magic. It was amazing to see so many dragons in one place.

Natsumi and Lila met the kings and queens of each section and even got training from them with Natsumi advancing the most and getting more training. LIla learned fire and air dragon slaying magic while Natsumi learned celestial, ice, and white dragon slaying magic.

The also studied other magic through books and teachers they met during their travels though Lila excelled more than Natsumi on that one. It balanced them out which made them a good team.

On one of their trips though, they met Zeref, who gave them some information and a shocking secret.

_Flashback_

_Natsumi and Lila were wandering through a forest after training with Luna, the Celestial Dragon Queen and Igneel when everything around them started to wilt and decay. They put their guard up and proceeded carefully. They heard a few twigs snap before coming face to face with a wizard in a high collared robe with gid trimmings._

_Lila's eyes widened with recognition and whispered in fear, "It's the dark wizard, Zeref!"_

_Natsumi's eyes also widened with Lila's words before narrowing down at him._

" _Why are you here?"_

_Zeref only smiled a melancholy smile and said, "It's been too long Natsumi. Is that the way you greet your older brother?"_

_Natsumi and Lila's mouth dropped open in shock before Lila fainted in shock._

_Flashback End_

When Lila woke up, Zeref began to explain that Natsumi died four hundred years ago and because he loved her so much, he tried to bring her back. It was a lot of information to handle and Natsumi actually had to think about everything before confronting Zeref again.

It took three days for Natsumi to build the courage to confront Zeref and when she did, they became closer and developed a good brother-sister relationship. Zeref even taught her some magic but not much since he said she wasn't ready for it as it was too dangerous.

' _Life is strange. But I wouldn't have it any other way,'_  she thought with a smile.

Natsumi Dragneel was back and more powerful than ever.

* * *

For Fairy Tail, a lot has happened in seven years. Seven years ago, the S-Class trials took place but Acnologia attacked and sunk the island. They mourned but because of that, they became weak as some of their strongest members.

In addition to losing their strongest members, Gajeel, Gildarts, and Laxus left the guild since they didn't fall for Manami's spell.

"Where's the cash old man?" a member of Twilight Ogre's guild sneered at Macao, who became guild master.

"We don't have it," Macao replied, slightly nervous.

The man chuckled evilly and came closer. Before he could attack, however, a sword stopped them. Soon after, every member either fell or fled.

Macao looked at the door where the members who had supposedly died stood, grinning.

"You're back!" Jet and Droy cried as they saw Levy.

Manami grinned and said, "We're baaaack!"

"Welcome back Manami-nee!" Romeo said, running up and giving her a hug.

Manami hugged back and hid her smirk.

' _There still under my complete control. Master will be pleased,'_  Manami thought smugly.

As she greeted everyone else she couldn't help but think, ' _Soon, Fairy Tail and all of Fiore will fall and you will finally be avenged… little brother.'_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And cut! I don't have any other news except you can still vote on who Natsumi should be with.
> 
> The choices are:
> 
> Lila
> 
> Laxus
> 
> Wendy
> 
> Hisui
> 
> Lila AND Laxus
> 
> Other
> 
> But that's all for now so I hope you enjoyed! Bye~!


	7. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More backstory and Natsumi and company ride to Crocus

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: Hey everyone! As I said last chapter, I was too tired to update but I'll be back on a normal schedule next week. We're all caught up now so I'll be posting a new chapter every Friday from now on. 
> 
> In other news, I finally made a schedule! I'm so proud of myself for it since I know I need it to keep track of everything.
> 
> Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy!
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail. Hiro Mashima does but I do own the OCs.
> 
> Warning: Mention of self harm

_Taichi stared at the woman in the black cloak. He had no idea what to make of her and her appearance did not help her case. The woman had taken them to her room, requesting drinks to be brought up. He stayed quiet, analyzing the woman before them._

_The girl he bumped into spoke up first, "Who the hell are you?"_

_The woman chuckled and answered, "I cannot tell you yet. There are many things that have to be done so this meeting will be quick."_

_The shy girl spoke up next, "Why did you ask us to meet you here? And on the same day too?"_

_Taichi had been wondering that too. It was too much on a coincidence. The exact same woman wanted them to meet at the exact same place at the exact same time. But why?_

_The woman seemingly read his mind and answered, "I asked you to be here because you were chosen by someone. Tell me, have you ever met a man or woman who seemed unnatural? Like they weren't from this world?"_

_Taichi had. He was travelling to Crocus when a man with ice colored hair. He looked human, but he had unnatural long claws and fangs. When he smiled, it was feral, like an animal hunting its prey. Taichi was ready to fight him but the way he smiled made Taich know he could never beat him. The exchange creeped him out till this day and Taichi never saw a trace of the man again._

" _What does that have to do with anything?" Taichi found himself asking._

_The woman smiled, seemingly amused, and answered, "Everything."_

* * *

The sun shined down on them. The birds were chirping, the trees glistening with dew, and everything was peaceful.

"UGH!"

Unfortunately for Natsumi, she was cooped up in a train heading to Crocus. She taken a medicine for her motion sickness but it had worn off hours ago and she had forgotten to bring extra.

It had been three weeks since Natsumi had come home for the Dragon Realm. Everything had been peaceful so far. They had used their time wisely and trained for the Grand Magic Games which was now only a week from now. Crocus was a three day train ride from Oaktown and they wouldn't stop once before getting on another train directly to Crocus. For Natsumi and the rest of the chosen team, they had to leave earlier to gain a little more time to prepare and explore. The rest of the guild would meet them in five days.

The team consisted of Natsumi, Lila, Mei, Taichi, Maria, and Natalya, a close friend of Natsumi's se met two years ago. Natalya was a tall woman with long dirty blonde hair held up in a ponytail and brown sparkling eyes. Taichi was tall with short brown hair and a streak of black in it and dark grey eyes. Mei was short and had short, shoulder length black hair and dark black eyes. Maria was Mei's opposite of long white hair and bright amethyst eyes. Natsumi had know Taichi, Mei, and Maria for seven years now and they were the first people to join Dragon Heart. They were also co founder of the guild along with Natsumi and Lila.

Maria giggled from her seat at the sight of Natsumi. Natsumi glared at her before her motion sickness kicked in and she threw up again. Maria's giggling grew as she reached into her bag and pulled out a small bottle with little pills inside of it. Natsumi's eyes grew and she looked at it before grabbing it quickly and taking out and swallowing a pill.

Her sickness now cured, she looked at Maria and said, "Thank you soooo much."

Maria giggled one last time before saying, "Your welcome."

Taichi sighed from her seat across from Maria.

"Now that your sickness is cured can we please start planning?"

Natsumi put a hand on her chin in mock thought before answering cheerfully, "Nope!"

Taichi glared at her. "Why not?"

Natsumi's face grew serious and answered softly, "There are just some things that can't be planned."

There was silence for a moment as everyone thought about what was ahead of them.

A few days after Natsumi's return, news was heard that the strongest members of Fairy Tail had returned. Everyone was understandably shocked since they were thought to be dead. Natsumi had been shocked the most, falling to her knees and looking at her wrist which still had scars from cutting herself. Lila had calmed down enough to wrap her arms around Natsumi and hold her as she whispered comforting words to calm the growing hysteria. No one knew the true extent of Natsumi's past and out of everyone in the guild, Lila knew Natsumi longest and was the most trusted.

Natsumi shook her head and smiled. "Come on guys, let's save the sadness for Fairy tail when they are crushed by us and the other guilds."

The tension in the slowly left but the silence didn't break. Natsumi turned towards the window and frowned softly.

' _Am I ready? It's been seven years and I still haven't gotten over it fully. Everyone else knows I used to be apart of Fairy Tail just not who. Am I ready to finally face the past?"_  she thought solemnly.

She thought back to seven years from when she met Lila to today. She quickly became determined.

' _I cannot fail them. I already did a couple years ago but not now. Especially to them,'_  she thought.

A slow smile appeared.  _'Just wait Fairy tail. You will not win this time around. Especially since I have back up.'_

* * *

**Unknown Location…**

The place was dark and cold. The shadows surrounded everything with only a single candle lighting the area. A tall, dark man stood in the shadows, a grin that spelled trouble growing on his face.

"Soon Natsumi," he said, "Soon."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And cut! I don't have much news except of what I posted last chapter. 
> 
> Like I said before, I'm keeping the poll up until Wednesday since you guys haven't had time to vote. Lila is still in the lead and I honestly think she is going to win.
> 
> Also, thank you for all the support for tjis story. It really makes me happy that people like it so much. So thank you.
> 
> Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed! Bye!


	8. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A little back story and Natsumi has a reunion with some old friends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: Hey everyone! So usually, I post a new chapter of this story on Friday but I had a school event that I was required to go to and I was too tired to post anything. The reason I bring this up is because I'm almost caught up with Franfiction.net. After I post this, we're caught up. 
> 
> I will be posting another chapter after this because I forgot to update Fanfiction.net yesterday but I already gave my reasom above for that. 
> 
> Anyways! I hope you enjoy!
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail. Hiro Mashima does but I do own the OCs.

_Mei Yuki was bored out of her mind. You'd think being an assassin would be interesting and exciting but it required a lot of waiting and Mei wasn't a very patient person. Waiting for the target took a while as you never know when he or she would come. Luckily, Mei had very good contacts who knew exactly where and when her target would be somewhere._

_Mei's target was a famous mage who was a complete jerk. A womanizer with a large ego who knew no limits. He was dangerous though and her employer thought he might become a serious threat one day and hired her to eliminate him. When the job was done, the woman said to meet her at her hotel to receive her payment_

_Mei had to admit though, her employer was a mystery in itself. The employer was a woman, very powerful but also gently with those she knew and trusted. She didn't see her face and only her eyes were visible through the hood which seemed to look into her soul. It creeped her out.._

_Mei broke away from her musings as her target's footsteps got closer and closer. She had a job to do._

* * *

_Taichi Yamaha was excited. Being a traveler does that to a person. Taichi had met a lot of interesting people in his travels. He had seen famous mages, gone to some beautiful places, and met a variety of people that were very weird._

_The strangest person Taichi had ever met was a woman with eyes that he swore stared into your soul. Her voice had given her away as a woman and had requested him to retrieve a family heirloom she had lost that was extremely valuable. She couldn't pay right away but she said to meet her at a hotel in Oakwood in a few weeks._

_Taichi accepted the request anyways and set off at the earliest time he could. He had no idea that his adventures were just getting started._

_Maria Fuuki was depressed. Her mom had just died, her father abused her, and her older sister was ill with a terminal disease at it's earliest stage and was expected not to live long. Maria took odd jobs, money was needed for food, water, and medicine. Her father no longer worked, having been kicked out from his job when he arrived drunk. It was up to Maria to get money now._

* * *

_Maria was selling food in the market when a strange woman approached her. She was a little suspicious at first as the woman was concealed by a cloak that only showed her eyes and only her voice identified her as female. It wasn't the strangest person she had met. Her odd jobs let her meet a lot of people._

_The woman was a traveler and she needed directions to another village near hers. Maria complied but as the woman left, she gave her some money and a note saying,_

_'If you need more money for your family, go to Oaktown. I will be there in a couple months to take care of business and if you agree, I will give you a new chance at living.'_

_It took several weeks for Maria to decided what to do but when her sister's illness took a turn for the worst, she gathered the money she had, packed a few clothes, and left to Oaktown on the earliest train she could get._

_Maria had no idea how much her life would change from a simple decision._

* * *

_Mei looked around the hotel lobby where the mysterious woman said to meet her. Her head swerved around the room, looking for a woman with a black cloak. Without realizing it, she started to walk around and was startled when she bumped into somebody._

_She looked up to see a tall male and said, "Sorry. I wasn't looking at where I was going."_

_The man rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly and said, "It's fine. I wasn't paying attention either. I'm looking for a person. Can you help me? The last time I saw her, she was wearing a black cloak."_

_"That's weird because I was looking for her too! She said to meet her here after I finished doing something for her," she said._

_Before the man could soeka, a shy voice spoke up from behind them. "I couldn't help but overhear you but you're looking for a mysterious woman with a black cloak, right?"_

_They both nodded cautiously as her face brightened up._

_"Great! I'm looking for her too. She told me to meet her here to help me with some… family issues," she said, hesitating about if she should tell them or not._

_Another chuckle from behind the three made them turn around and standing behind them was the woman._

* * *

Natsumi stared out the train window, thinking about her guild. As the years had past, she had formed guild but she wasn't the guild master. She wanted to fight and compete and being a guild master held her back. Especially with the Grand Magic Games. Guild master weren't allowed to compete, a fact that crushed her when she found out. She ended up giving it to Elizabeth Smith, who wasn't much of a fighter but would still fight for her guild when necessary. But even though she transferred leadership, everyone considered Natsumi the unofficial guild master.

Lila, who was sitting next to Natsumi noticed her staring and asked,"What's wrong?"

Natsumi turned to her and smiled before saying, "Just thinking about the past seven years."

"It's been eventful, hasn't it?" Lila asked.

"No kidding," Natsumi replied.

And indeed it had. Her guild, named Dragon Heart, was the strongest guild in Fiore but she hadn't seen them for three years now. After getting defeating by someone from Sabertooth, she had left to go get more training. Natsumi was worried though. She had left them for three years, practically abandoning them. What would they think?

Lila, noticing her worried expression, said reassuringly, "Everything will be fine Natsumi. They know why they had to leave. The worst they'll do is punch you in the arm before hugging you. Everything will be alright."

Natsumi nodded and forced herself to relax for Lila's sake. It was going to be a long trip.

* * *

The guild hall was stationed in Oaktown. The place held a lot of memories for Natsumi so it only felt right for her to build it there. The guild hall was the the edge of Oakton and was four stories tall. The first floor held the bar, the kitchen, a couple extra rooms mostly used for planning, and the mission board. It was where everyone hung out. The second floor held the S-Class mission board, the guild master's office, the main meeting room, the infirmary, and two bedrooms. The third floor was just the library while the fourth floor has bedrooms for guests.

In addition to that, there were dorms separated by gender for each guild member. Not everyone used it and bought apartments or houses nearby or in walking distance. The guild was pleased on how it turned out and started moving in right away. Three years later, it still stood as proud as it did the day it was built.

Natsumi and Lila approached the door, albeit slowly on Natsumi's part.

Lila noticed her slowness and rolled her eyes, "The faster you get there the faster your punishment will be. Now com'on."

Natsumi stuck her tongue out and picked up her pace. She hesitated for a moment at the door before taking a step back and kicking it open.

"I'M BAAAACK!"

* * *

Maria was unusually silent, as she was around this time of year. Normally, she would be very upbeat and starting fights with others but she always took this one day every year to just think back.

' _It's hard to believe it's already been three years,'_  she thought silently.

Three years ago, her friend had disappeared without warning along with another one of her friends. They didn't leave a note but the guild understood why they left. Her friend had been the one to recruit her. She was one of the first members of the guild and was closer to her than the others.

Maria sighed and thought,  _'I wish you were here Natsumi. You should have at least left a note or something. The guild has never been the same since you left.'_

BANG!

Mei looked at the door, the light hiding the figure who kicked the door. When it cleared,it revealed a familiar pink haired woman with onyx eyes and a wide, blinding smile. Maria looked at her in disbelief even as she yelled, "I'M BAAAACK!"

Without her knowing it, tears began to well up but she wiped her eyes before they fell as she thought, _'She's back.'_

* * *

Natsumi looked around at the people surrounding her, welcoming her and asking where she went. She felt a sudden urge of happiness and contentment settled her in.

"I'm home," she whispered, a small but genuine smile forming, "I'm finally home."

And in what seemed like forever, her words actually rang true.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And cut! I wanted to focus on some backstory for Maria, Taichi, and Mei since they play an important role throughout the story. It will span several chapters but I'll still move the story along with parts being in the present.
> 
> In other news, the poll is still up for who Natsumi should be paired with. Lila is still winning by a quite a bit but I'm going to close the poll on Wednesday since you guys haven't had enough time to vote. IF YOU HAVE VOTED PLEASE DO NOT VOTE AGAIN!
> 
> With that said, I hope you enjoyed!


	9. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang arrives in Crocus and Natsumi and Lila reunite with Hisui

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: Hey everyone! I am really not into it today so I'm going to make this quick. I have closed the poll and the results are in. The winner is... LAXUS! It was really close but Laxus won but I'm not sure if I'm going to go through with it. I might end up doing both Laxus and Lila since those were the top two. Here were the final results, which included the poll and reviewer replies:
> 
>  
> 
> Laxus: 9
> 
> Lila: 11
> 
> Lila AND Laxus: 3
> 
> Wendy: 0
> 
> Hisui: 1
> 
> Harem: 2
> 
> Other: 0
> 
>  
> 
> Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed!
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail. Hiro Mashima does but I do own the OCs.

_Maria had no idea where they were going. The woman in the cloak just stopped talking suddenly and told them to follow her. They had left town an hour ago and wandered into the forest. The woman had said nothing since then and the rest were left to figure things out. Maria glanced at her two companions. They seemed normal but Maria knew that appearances could be deceiving._

_Maria decided to wait. If they revealed their true colors and attacked her, she knew she had no chance of winning and planned to run. Maria, too lost in her thoughts, ended up bumping into her male companion. She glanced at the woman and saw her looking at a clearing in the forest._

_The clearing was beautiful. It was surrounded by big green trees. The grass was green and fresh and flowers grew everywhere. The sun filtered in making everything glow even more than it already was._

_The woman in the clearing was also pretty. She had long brown hair that reached her waist, flowing down in waves. When she glanced over at them she noticed that the woman had light brown eyes filled with fondness as she looked towards the woman in the cloak. The brown haired woman wore a white tank top with black leggings. It was a simple outfit but somehow, the woman made it look elegant._

_The woman's eyes narrowed at the woman in the cloak and said, "You are late. I, along with everyone else, was getting worried."_

_Even her voice matched with everything. It was smooth, elegant, and calm._

_The woman in the black cloak snorted softly and said, "I'm sorry but I had to go get some people. I told you I would get back late Lila."_

_Lila just sighed and said, "Let's get going."_

_Lila turned around but not before saying, "Next time, take me with you. Okay Natsumi?"_

* * *

Crocus was a pretty place. Houses lined the street, people bustled around sphs and taverns that lit up the city at night, the palace stood in the center, tall and proud, and the whole city was surrounded by forests and mountains that made Natsumi ache for her home.

Their train had arrived in Crocus three hours ago and they spent their time touring the capital. Natsumi had been to Crocus before but that had been three years ago. The city was even more festive than she remembered. Natsumi wore the black cloak she had met Taichi, Mei, and Maria in to hide her identity. She wore brown contact lense and dyed her hair blonde which made her look like a female version of Luke. She looked at the map Elizabeth had given to her to help them find their inn.

"Guys," she called out.

Her guildmates' attention which was on the sights shifted to her as she help up the map of Crocus.

"I know you guys are excited but we need to set up a curfew. This is our inn," she said, pointing to a square which said Dragon's Nest, "Meet up there by dinner which is at six, okay?"

The other nodded before going their separate ways while Natsumi and Lila stayed together.

Lila turned to her asking, "Is it okay to let them go their separate ways?"

Natsumi started to walk towards a small cafe as she replied, "Yes. We've been on a train for days now. They need time to stretch their legs."

"And plus," she added after a moment, "I wanted to see Hisui before the games begin."

Lila looked at her in surprise before stating, "Hisui? It seems like forever since we've talked to her. But why now and not later?"

Natsumi shrugged, replying, "I promised I'd see her when we arrived in Crocus."

"When was this?" Lila asked.

"A few days ago," Natusmi replied honestly.

Natsumi and Lila had met Hisui when they were travelling around. They didn't know her at first but after saving her from being kidnapped, they became close friends after they figured out her identity. It had admittedly been three years since she'd seen Hisui and she honestly missed talking to her, especially when she needed advice or someone to help her cool down.

Lila shrugged her shoulders grabbing Natsumi's hand saying, "Let's take a shortcut, shall we?"

Natsumi smiled at her long time friend as she squeezed the hand Lila had in hers.

"Let's go."

* * *

Hisui E. Fiore was bored. Her father was in a meeting, her guards were busy, and even though she was a princess with a lot of money, she could find nothing to soothe her boredom. She had few friends since she wasn't sure who would like her for her money and power. The few friends she had...

The small smile she had on her face when she thought of her friends dropped as she thought about them. Natsumi and Lila had been gone for three years now. She missed them terribly. She didn't get to say goodbye to them and they didn't even leave a note.

A sudden crash from behind her made her turn around. Her eyes widened at the sight before her.

"Miss us?" Natsumi said cheekily, a smile on her face, one hand in Lila's hand.

One of Hisui's hand went to her face to run her eyes. When Natsumi and Lila didn't go away, she began to smile as she ran up to them, engulfing them into a hug.

Lila and Natsumi hugged her back as Hisui whispered, "Yeah, I have."

"Welcome back."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And cut! We are getting closer and closer to the Grand Magic Games which I am really excited for. I've been trying to put limits on Natsumi and her team since I think I made them too powerful. There might be on Gildart's level but not on Zeref's or Acnologia's level. If you guys have any ideas, I would love to know them and tell me what you thought of the chapter while you are at it. Constructive criticism is always welcome and I hope you guys enjoyed!


	10. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: Hey everyone! I'm sorry I didn't update yesterday but my whole schedule has been off this week. I have only been able to update one story and I am so mad at myself for that. Anyways, I hope you enjoy!
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail. Hiro Mashima does but I do own the OCs.
> 
> Warning: Mentioned suicide and self harm

_The woman, Natsumi apparently, pouted at the other woman. Mei had no idea what was going on but for some reason, the name Natsumi sounded really familiar._

_It suddenly clicked as Maria shouted, "WAIT! You mean Natsumi, the SALAMANDER, from FAIRY TAIL!"_

_Lila nodded at them before frowning at Natsumi._

" _You didn't tell them?" she questioned._

_Natsumi pouted even more and said, "I was waiting for the perfect moment."_

_Lila shook her head at Natsumi before turning and smiling at them._

" _Anyways, my name is Lila. I've been a friends of Natsumi's for a about a year now. Who are you?"_

_Mei introduced herself first "My name is Mei Yuki."_

_Her male companion went next. "My name is Taichi Yamaha. Nice to meet you."_

_And finally, her female companion went last. "My name is Maria Fuuki! Pleased to meet you!"_

_Lila giggled slightly at her introduction and said, "Nice to meet you too. As you might already know, I'm Lila and this pouty woman is my best friend Natsumi."_

" _Is she really Natsumi from Fairy Tail?" Taichi asked curiously._

_At the mention of her past, Natsumi's face darkened and Lila's face went blank. Cold fury and sadness shone in Lila's eyes as she answered._

" _Yes but not anymore."_

" _Why not?" Maria questioned._

_Natsumi looked away from them as the memories of her them and what they did flashed through her mind as Lila put a comforting arm around as she glared at the rest of them._

" _That's none of your business," she hissed at them._

_Lila turned and said nothing more to them, only whispering tiny, comforting words to Natsumi and that's when Mei knew they had crossed a line._

* * *

Seven years. It's been seven years since Natsumi died. It's been seven years since she left Fairy Tail. Seven long and hard years filled with training, getting stronger, sadness, happiness and laughter.

Juvia had no idea how she survived so long without Natsumi. After her death,she had left Fairy Tail, unable to face Natsumi's indirect killers and the memory of Natsumi. She had taken Wency with her too and they travelled around for a bit before joining Lamia Scale. She had become great friends with everyone especially Lyon and Sherria.

Today was the seven year anniversary of Natsumi's death. Every year, she went to Natsumi's grave she had built in the forest where Natsumi's house was. She brought along snapdragons, blue delphiniums, and marigolds. Natsumi's favourite types of flowers. Natsumi had told her one day that they were her favorites because the snapdragons reminded her of bIgnell, the blue delphiniums reminded her of Juvia, and the marigolds reminded of her flames.

Juvia placed the flowers on the grave before sitting down in front of it.

"Hey Natsumi. It's been seven years since you died. Everyone in Lamia Scale are doing well. Wendy has grown a lot since you died and I couldn't be prouder. Fairy Tail had returned from Tenrou and they are going to participate in the Grand Magic Games. Of course, they stand no match against us or any other guild," Juvia said, letting out a sigh.

"I miss you Natsumi. Wendy does too, as does everyone whose lives you have touched," Juvia continued, tears coming down her face, "Lyon, Wendy, and everyone else will probably visit later. We will avenge you and we will win the Grand Magic Games, trust me on this."

Juvia's eyes were red and puffy at this point but she didn't care. She spent the rest of the day sitting at Natsumi's grave as people came to visit the grave. When she finally got up to leave around sunset, she turned around one last time to look at the grave.

"Goodbye Natsumi. Rest in peace," she said, walking away from the past and into the foreseeable future.

* * *

It rained the day when Natsumi tried to commit suicide. It rained now, seven years later, quite fitting for her death anniversary. Natsumi stared out the window of her hotel room in Crocus, the rain pouring down, reflecting her emotions. Her eyes, which were normally full of life, were dull and lifeless. Her bright smile was gone and her hair seemed darker than it usually was.

She was alone, like she always was on this day. Natsumi always took this day to reflect on their betrayal. She would shut herself off from everyone else and only Lila was allowed to go near her.

"It's that day, isn't it?" a voice from behind her asked. Lil stood in the doorway, leaning against the door frames.

Her eyes held sadness in them, along with understanding and anger.

Natsumi looked out the window again, replying to her question in a soft whisper even though she didn't need to, "Yeah."

Lila moved from her spot and sat next to Natsumi, wrapping her arms around the slighter smaller woman. For who knows how long, they just sat and enjoyed the others warmth and comfort.

Eventually, Lila broke the silence with a question, "Do you want to tell the others?"

She asked this question for five years now but Natsumi knew she wasn't ready yet. She trusted the friends she made over the years but Natsumi knew she wasn't over it yet. She would tell them eventually, but their betrayal still lingered in the back of her mind, taunting her with their words and actions.

Lila never questioned her though. All she did was sit with her, wrap Natsumi in a hug, and waited until Natsumi was settled before moving. Lila knew Natsumi wasn't ready but she also knew that they would have to tell them. Lila's grip in Natsumi tightened as she relived finding Natsumi's body and finding out the truth.

They beat her until she was bleeding, they broke her with their words and actions, and they led her to suicide. Lila knew she would never be able to forgive them. They would pay for the crimes they commited. She would get her vengeance and the Grand Magic Games was a good time to do it.

Natsumi's voice broke Lila out of her thought, "They will be there."

Lila instantly knew who she was talking about. Her grip tightened as she spoke through clenched teeth, "I know. Anything you want to do?"

"Of course," Natsumi started with a smirk which quickly turned into a frown, "But it also means that the other will know."

"Then tell them now and get it over with," LIla suggested, "That way they won't think you don't trust them. It would be better of they heard it from your mouth than someone they don't know."

Natsumi sighed as she snuggled into Lila's arms and replied, "I will later. For now though, I just want to relax and not think about it."

Lila smiled at the girl in her arms and rested her head on Natsumi's head.

"Of course."

* * *

" _Hey Laxus," Natsumi said one day trying to gain his attention._

_Laxus grunted, signalling he was listening. Natsumi had been in the guild for four years now. He didn't interact much with her and she didn't with him either, preferring to spend her time with Mira, Erza, Gray and the other kids._

" _Yeah kid?" he replied. "Are you a dragon slayer?" she asked._

" _Where you'd hear that from?" he asked._

" _Gramps of course. When I get older and stronger, we'll fight, right?" she asked._

_He scoffed and said, "As if you stand a chance."_

_The statement only made her angry and said, "I'll get stronger! And one day, I'll beat you!"_

_He scoffed again and said, "Yeah yeah, we'll see in a couple years."_

_Her face only grew more determined but Laxus had already started to ignore her. He had no idea what would be happening soon and how it would affect that promise._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And cut! I still haven't decided on the pairing yet but I'm going to set up a few like Lila, Hisui, and Laxus. Hisui will not be paired with Natsumi but I'm making it an unrequited crush. Now it's between Laxus and Lila and I'm still leaning towards both. Anyways, tell me what you thought of the chapter and I hope you enjoyed! Bye!


	11. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finish the background story and Juvia reunites briefly with Manami, Luke, Erza, and Gray.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: Hey everyone. Normally, I would be very excited to post this but I am so f-ing tired and I don't have the usual energy I have. Because of this, there won't be a author's note at the end. Also, I have something I need to say.
> 
> Recently, I have come to a revelation that I am focusing more on posting and making the readers happy but... it's taken the fun out of writing. I feel more stress to post and it's been wearing me down. For this reason, I have decided to focus on one or two stories at a time. I'll most likely focus on one since it's just easier for me but that is the decision I will stand by. Since this was my first story, I will be focusing on this one first. This may be a bit off topic but it's almost the one year anniversary of when this story was first posted. I feel slightly nostalgic. Back on topic, I will be focusing on this story and giving it my full attention from here on out and because of that, I will end up posting more chapters of this story every week.
> 
> I'm sorry for all the ranting but I needed to say that. Anyways, thanks for all the support and I hope you enjoy as always!
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail. Hiro Mashima does but I do own the OCs.
> 
> Warning: Mention of suicide and self harm

“Natsumi has been really quiet today hasn’t she?” Maria asked Taichi and Mei.

 

The three of them had grown really close, becoming a little family even though Maria suspected a romance between Taichi and Mei, which was vehemently denied.

 

The two in question nodded and Mei answered in a hushed whisper, ”Today’s the anniversary of that day, remember?”

 

Maria’s face melted into a frown which was copied by her companions. They didn’t know why, but or some reason, Natsumi always got sad on one particular day of the year. They figured that it related to her breakdown when they first met her. They didn't push her but they were very curious about it.

 

“Just try to act normal okay? She wouldn’t us to treat her any differently than any other day just because it’s that day,” Maria asked.

 

The others nodded and silence fell among the trio, as they got lost in their memories.

* * *

_After Natsumi’s breakdown, the rest of the trip was spent in silence, the trio not knowing how to react. Maria was a little shaken by the events, not knowing how to deal with a breakdown. The others were silent too, and Maria suspected they thought the same as her._

 

_Natsumi finally broke the silence with a whisper, ”Please don’t tell anyone.”_

 

_The three glanced at each other in surprise, not expecting such a response until finally Maria nodded along with the other three._

 

_“Can you tell us what happened?” Maria asked hesitantly._

 

_Natsumi shook her head and replied in the same, broken whisper, “It’s too painful to think about and I haven’t quite got over it enough to tell other people.”_

 

_The three quickly dropped the subject and continued with a little small talk as they arrived at their destination. The three stared at the building in awe. It was a five story building, not yet complete but almost there, painted with red, black and other colors and a red dragon symbol in the middle. Natsumi and Lila turned to the three, smiling with pride and happiness._

 

_“Welcome to the Dragon Heart’s guildhall,” Natsumi stated proudly._

 

_The three exchanged glances again before looking back at the building._

 

_“Dragon Heart’s guildhall?” Mei asked slowly._

 

_Natsumi rubbed the back of her head sheepishly before replying, “I wanted to start guild but I wanted to recruit you guys before anyone else.”_

 

_The three gave Natsumi bewildered looks as Taichi asked, ”Why us though?”_

 

_“I wanted the first people to be unique. Different from the regular guild members .I saw you guys on my travels and asked around and when me and Lila decided to start up a guild, we agreed to have you guys as the first members,” Natsumi replied honestly._

 

_Mei crossed her arms and asked, “Why should we join?”_

 

_Natsumi retorted, ”Why not? All of you have individual goals and being in a guild will help you accomplish them faster. No one will really question your motives unless they are suspicious. In the end though, it's up to you.”_

 

_There was silence once again for a few moments before Maria said, ”I’m in.”_

 

_Mei and Taichi soon followed saying, “I’m also in.”_

 

_Natsumi’s grin widened and said, “Then welcome to Dragon Heart.”_

* * *

Lila sighed as she walked out of Natsumi’s hotel room. They had comforted each other for a while and Natsumi eventually fell asleep. Lila moved her to her bed and tucked her in before sneaking out of the room.

 

Hisui got up from where she was sitting and worriedly asked, “Is she okay?”

 

After the reunion with Hisui yesterday, she often visited Lila and Natsumi to hang out with them. Hisui knew the significance of this day. Back when they first met, she had noticed scars on Natsumi’s wrists. Curious, she had asked and Natsumi ended up having a breakdown. Lila eventually told her that they were form when she slit her wrists. When Natsumi had recovered, they told her the whole story. She was furious at Fairy Tail but reined in her anger and promised to not tell anyone.

 

She had become a trusted consultant and when Lila couldn’t be there for Natsumi’s breakdowns, Hisui was there to calm her. It had become a system where they took turns comforting Natsumi when she broke down or had nightmares. She was closer to Lila and calmed down quicker with her but only Lila and Natsumi coud calm her during one if her breakdowns.

 

“She’s fine. She fell asleep so I put her on her bed,” Lila replied.

 

Hisui breathed a sigh of relief, responding, “That’s good. It’s always a lot worst this time of year.”

 

Lila nodded but her thoughts were elsewhere. She had observed Hisui’s behaviour around Natsumi for the last few years and they were consistent with each other. She tended to be a lot more caring with Natsumi and she was closer to her than she was to Lila. She would smile and laugh more around Natsumi and sometimes she got these random smiles on her face out of nowhere.

 

“Hey Hisui,” she said, drawing her companion’s attention.

 

“Yeah?” she responded.

 

“Are you in love with Natsumi?” the question came out before Lila even thought about it fully.

 

To Hisui, the world around her froze as the question was uttered. She had denied it for so long but hearing the question out loud just destroyed any thoughts of denying it.

 

Hisui sighed deeply, replying in a low voice, ”Yeah, I am.”

 

Lila ran a hand through her hair and said, “I thought as much.”

 

The women stood in silence before Lila sighed, “I honestly can’t blame you.”

 

Hisui’s attention snapped to her and asked dumbly, “What?”

 

“I can’t blame you,” Lila said, ”Natsumi is the kind of person who people can easily fall in love it. But just so you know, if you hurt her, I’ll will not hesitate to torture you, kill you, revive you, and then torture and kill you again.”

 

Hisui paled slightly and replied meekly, “Yes.”

 

The women stood in silence again before Hisui said softly, “I feel like I have no chance.”

 

Lila replied, “Maybe, maybe not. But Natsumi will make the final decision.” “Is Natsumi in love with anyone?” Hisui asked hesitantly.

 

“I don’t know. I know she used to be in a relationship but it’s been over for seven years now. You still have a chance,” Lila replied.

 

“Do you love her?” Hisui asked suddenly.

 

Lila just turned to the window and didn’t answer.

* * *

“I can’t believe we were in the Spirit World for three month!” Luke whined loudly.

 

Manami sighed and said, “I know! That was so stupid!”

 

It had been three month since they had returned from Tenrou. They had learned that they were one for seven years instead of several weeks as they had thought. The Grand Magic Games started in a week and the time they had to train was wasted. They were on their way to Crocus. The rest of the guild was already there waiting for them to arrive.

 

Erza sighed irritatedly and snapped at him, “We can’t change the past. At least we’ve unlocked Second Origin so we’re stronger.”

 

Luke immediately shut up, not wanting to further anger Erza but Manami rolled her eyes. The rest of the ten minute train ride was made in silence, no one wanted to anger Erza by saying something stupid.

 

The train station was packed with people getting on and off their trains. They navigated the crowd,pushing their way out.

 

“Where are they?” an irritated voice said, sounding familiar to the team.

 

They turned around and saw two people with blue hair. They had changed since seven years ago but it was undoubtedly them.

 

“Juvia. Wendy,” Manami snarled.

 

The people in question turned around and immediately their faces went blank, showing no emotion at all.

  
“Luke. Erza. Gray. _Manami_. I would say it was nice to see you again but then I would be lying,” Juvia said coldly.


	12. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: Hey everyone! I have realized that I end up posting on Saturday so I'm just wondering if I should just keep posting on Saturday. With that aside though, I know I said that I would post during the week but this has honestly been my busiest week yet. I've had to do so much for band and other things I've been involved in on top of homework that has left me no time to post.
> 
> With that said, I am going on a field trip next week. I actually leave tomorrow night and I'll be gone until Thursday morning. I'll be busy all day while on the trip and so I probably won't have time to post but I will get something up on Friday and maybe Thursday too since that's my birthday and I feel like posting something for it.
> 
> But anyways, I hope you enjoy!
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail. Hiro Mashima does but I do own the OCs.

"Juvia, what are you doing here?" Gray asked in surprise.

Juvia sneered at them, surprising the group a little bit as she said mockingly, "The same reason you are here Gray. For the Grand Magic Games."

"What guild did you join?" Luke asked curiously.

"Lamia Scale along with Wendy," Juvia answered in a cold tone, glaring at Manami.

An awkward silence developed the groups before Wendy said, "Look! There they are!"

Juvia glanced at the direction she was pointing and promptly left the Fairy Tail group without a goodbye. Wendy stood there awkwardly before waving her goodbye at them and disappearing into the crowd alongside Juvia, leaving the Fairy Tail team staring at their backs.

* * *

"Man, have they changed since seven years ago," Luke commented casually.

Erza, Gray, and Manami glared at him, causing him to shut up and look away. A tense silence enveloped the group as they reached their hotel and were immediately surrounded by the other guild members.

"So how was the trip?" Levy asked excitedly.

"The trip itself was pretty good but we met someone we knew at the train station," Erza answered.

"Really? Who?" Cana asked taking a sip of her drink.

"Juvia and Wendy," Manami sneered.

"The traitors? What are they here for?" Mira asked.

"The Grand Magic Games. They joined Lamia Scale," Luke replied.

There was an awkward silence for a minute before Manami said, "Anyways, let's not talk about the traitors. How have you guys been?"

Juvia and Wendy were quickly forgotten as they caught up with the others.

* * *

Lila entered the room where Natsumi was resting once again. Her talk with Hisui rattled her more than people would think. The thought of Natsumi and Hisui being together made her stomach clench and anger building up inside of her.

Natsumi was still asleep when she entered. She quietly walked to the bed and say down next to it. She ran a gentle hand through her hair, admiring how soft it was.

Lila sighed as she asked herself, "What are you doing to me Natsumi?"

* * *

Natsumi woke a little after Lila left for the second time. She sat up from her bed groggily and looked around for any sign of Lila or her other friends.

Hisui poked her head in, having heard Natsumi move in her bed and yelled to someone behind her, "She's awake!"

Suddenly, her room was full of people. Lila, Hisui, Mei, Taichi, and Maria surrounded her, smothering her with affection and questions.

Lila silenced them all with a gesture of her hand and asked calmly, "Are you okay now?"

Natsumi looked at the people and her room before looking back at Lila and replying, "Yeah, I think I am."

* * *

Natsumi strolled through the city, Lila right behind her to watch her. They walked in silence even though Lila wanted desperately to speak to Natsumi about earlier. She remained quiet though as they stopped at a small and cute cafe called Fairy Heart. It was the guild's favourite cafe and they usually met up with other guilds there. Today, they were going to meet up with Sabertooth and Lamia Scale. Natsumi was in her disguise making Lila and her looking like sisters.

Natsumi quickly sat down as a nearby table and ordered a cup of black coffee, her favourite because of the bitter taste to it. Lila didn't order anything and just sat as they waited for the other guilds to arrive. Sting and Rogue had become good friends with them the last time they were there as they were fellow dragon slayers to Natsumi even though they claimed to kill their dragon parent.

Lila spoke to Natsumi for the first time since they had come to the cafei, asking her a question, "Why did you call a meeting between us, Sabertooth, and Lamia Scale?"

Natsumi set down her cup of coffee the server woman gave her a couple minutes ago and didn't reply for a couple minutes.

"Is it bothering you?" Natsumi asked.

Lila looked startled for a minute before replying, "No, I'm just curious."

Natsumi stared at her, looking for any sign she was lying before replying, "Can't a woman just want to see her friends since she hasn't seen them for a couple years?"

At Lila's unimpressed look, she sighed and replied honestly, "I want to establish an alliance with them."

Lila stared curiously at her as she inquired, "Why?"

"I have a feeling something big is about to happen and the more allies we have, the better. And also, Fairy Tail will be there and you know how I feel about them."

Their conversation died out at her words as Lila clenched her fist and Natsumi looked down at her coffee. They sat in a tense silence for a minute before a shout from behind startled them back into reality.

"Ryo! Lila! It's good to see you again!" Sting shouted as he ran towards them.

Ryo Kasai was the name Natsumi came up with to use when she was in disguise. Ryo meant dragon and kasia meant fire so Natsumi thought it was appropriate since she was raised by a fire dragon. The women in question gave him a smile as Natsumi stood up to give him a hug. Sting was surprised for a moment before hugging back.

As she stepped away, Sting commented, "I see you guys are back from your training trip. How'd it go?"

"It went pretty good," Natsumi started to reply as Lila gave Sting a hug, "We've gotten a lot stronger and are ready to kick your asses in the Grand Magic Games."

Sting humphed and said, "Unlikely. We'll beat your asses from here to the other side of the continent."

Natsumi smiled at Sting as she replied, "Good to see you haven't changed much since I've left. Where's Rogue? I didn't see him or Lector or Frosch with you either."

"He ran up ahead when he saw you and left us in the dust," a monotone voice from behind Sting said.

Natsumi looked behind Sting to see Rogue along with Lector and Frosch. She smiled at them as she gave Rogue a hug and picked up Lector and Frosch.

"It's nice to see you again Rogue," Lila said as she greets the Shadow Dragon Slayer.

Rogue gave them a slight smile while saying, "You too. Did everything go well?"

Natsumi grinned at them as she said, "Yep. And how about you two?"

"Pretty well. Anyways, why did you call us here?" Rogue asked.

"Can't a woman just want to see her friends again?" Natsumi aksed.

Everyone raised their eyebrow at this and she complained, "Man people. No faith. No faith at all."

"Anyways, we are waiting for a couple more people and then we can tell you. In the meantime, do you guys want anything to eat or drink?" Lila asked.

Sting grinned as he and Rogue sat down. They ordered and were soon just waiting for Lamia Scale to arrive. There was a little small talk but mostly it was just Sting talking on and on about what happened over the last few years. Natsumi tuned him out as she craned her neck to see if she could recognize any. Soon, two blue heads of hair came into her view and she stood up so they would notice where they were. One of the bluenettes saw her and tried to gain the attention of the other one. Soon, the bluenettes were pushing through the crowds along with two others she hadn't noticed before.

Natsumi's heart clenched as she saw her sisters on everything but blood but managed to stand up with another grin as she greeted the newcomers, "It's nice to see you again Wendy, Juvia, Lyon, and Sherry."

The five smiled and greeted everyone individually. They gave Natsumi and Lila hugs and shook hand with Rogue and Sting. Soon, they all sat down to order and talk.

"So why did you call us here?" Lyon asked as he took a sip of the coffee he had ordered.

Natsumi took a huge sip of her coffee and replied, "I want to form an alliance."

From the shocked, curious, and sceptical looks she was getting, Natsumi knew she would need to convince them about it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And cut! I can honestly say that I am super excited. We're almost caught up to where I was originally at and the Grand Magic Games are coming up. But that will have to wait until next week. Until then, I hope you enjoyed! Bye!


	13. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Grand Magic Games start!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: Hey everyone! You know what? I'm just going to move the posting date to Saturday because I always end up posting today. Anyways, I have come back from my trip and let me say, it was exhausting. Luckily, I wasn't required to go to school so I have a four day weekend to recover. I don't want to stall this any longer so without further ado, I hope you enjoy! Bye!
> 
> Disclaimer: I do now own Fairy Tail. Hiro Mashima does but I do own the OCs.
> 
> PS: From now on, there will be no ending author's note unless i deem this one too long. With said, I'll see you later!

"An alliance?" Rogue was the first to ask.

Natsumi sipped her coffee calmly as she replied, "Yeah. I have a bad feeling about the Grand Magic Games this year and we might need to work together to defeat whatever is coming. Are you in?"

The five from Lamia Scale looked at each other but Juvia was the one that replied, "We need time to think about this."

"That's fine. But time is limited so don't take too long. What about you guys?" Natsumi asked.

"The guild will disagree but me and Rogue will help you fought whatever is coming," Sting answered.

Natsumi smiled at them before looking at Lamia Scale.

They looked sceptical and Lyon asked, "Do you have any idea what is coming?"

Natsumi shook her head as she answered, "No but most of the time when I feel something, it turns out to be true."

"We can't really rely on that you know. We want to help you but the guild master would most likely disagree since you have no valid reasons," Sherry said seriously for once.

Natsumi set her coffee down as she replied, "I know. Just let her know that I will do whatever I can with or without your help."

The Lamia Scale guild members nodded and after bidding there goodbyes, left the cafe, leaving Sting, Rogue, the Exceeds, Natsumi, and Lila to stare at their backs.

* * *

A few days later, Natsumi lay awake on her bed, thinking back to the conversation she had with Lamia Scale and Sabertooth a few days ago. She tossed and turned before finally getting up and sneaking out of her bed and onto Lila's bed. Natsumi crawled up beside her and Lila stirred but did not wake. Natsumi took this time to look at her best friend. They may have known each other much shorter than she and Fairy tail had but they were as close as Fairy Tail once was to her. She started moving her hand to touch Lila's hair but jerked it back as a bright light and booming voice woke everyone up. Lila and Natsumi rushed to the window to see a gigantic hologram for the announcer of the Grand Magic Games, Mato.

"Hello guilds from across Fiore! I you did not know this, my name is Mato and I am the announcer for the Grand Magic Games! Tonight will be our preliminary rounds to eliminate all except eight guilds. This year's preliminary rounds is… the Sky Maze!" Mato announced.

In the middle of town, the earth rumbled as a sphere in the sky started forming. It glowed brightly before dimming, revealing a maze in the sky. A line of light made a road from their hotel to the sphere. Natsumi and the rest of her team who had come out at Mato's voice stared at it in confusion.

"The goal is to find a door in the middle of the maze where I will be stationed! Now, get on the road and let the preliminary begin!" Mato announced before disappearing, leaving the guilds tired and confused.

* * *

Um, what just happened?" Maria asked in confusion.

"I… I think the Grand Magic Games just begun," Lila answered slowly.

Natsumi snapped out of her shock and, with a grin, leapt off the balcony on to the bright road.

She turned back to the others, her wide grin still on her face, and asked, "Are you coming?"

The others slowly grinned back at her and just like Natsumi, leapt off the balcony and onto the road where they started running. As they ran, they could see other guilds enter the maze. When they finally reached the maze, they looked around in amazement at all the things in it.

Natsumi turned to her team and asked, "So, who wants to lead us through this maze?"

* * *

**15 Minutes Later…**

"Hah! I bet we beat Ryo and the others here!" Sting said smugly to his team.

"Tell me we were first," Sting continues, directing his attention to Mato.

Mato laughed nervously saying, "You were second."

"WHAT! Who beat us?" Sting asked.

"Dragon Heart's team," Mato said, bracing himself for the inevitable explosion.

He was not disappointed.

"DAMN YOU RYOOOOOO!"

* * *

Said girl sneezed before hearing the echo of a yell and smirked smugly.

"Was that Sting?" Lila asked.

"Most likely. Probably just found out we beat him to the door," Natsumi said.

The two girls smirked at each other before heading to bed.

* * *

**The Next Day…**

"Hello everybody and welcome to the opening ceremony of the Grand Magic Games! Ats night, we had out preliminary round where we narrowed out 113 to 8 guilds! In last place we have Fairy Tail!" Mato announced to the cheering crowd.

The Fairy Tail Team came out which consisted of Gray, Erza, Luke, Manami, and Levy with Mira as a reserve. The crowd booed as they entered.

"In seventh place we have Quatro Cerberus!" Mato announced.

The Quatro Cerberus Team consisted of Rocker, Norbaly, Jager, Warcry, and Semmes with Bacchus as a reserve. The crowds cheered but not as much as they did when the next team was announced.

"In sixth place, we have Mermaid Heel!"

The Mermaid Heel Team consisted of Kagura, Beth, Millianna, Risley, and Arana. The men in the crowd cheered wildly at the all-girl team. Said girls just rolled their eyes.

"In fifth place we have Blue Pegasus!"

The Blue Pegasus Team consisted of Ichiya, Hibiki, Ren, Eve, and Nichiya. The woman cheered loudly and most swooned as the handsome boys blew them kisses.

"In fourth place, we have Lamia Scale!"

The Lamia Scale Team consisted of Lyon, Wendy, Sherria, Juvia, and Jura with Toby as a reserve. People cheered for them, especially at the girls and Lyon.

"In third place we have Raven Tail!"

The Raven Tail Team consisted of Nullpudding, Kurohebi, Flare, Alexei, and Obra. The crowd did not cheer for them, frightening and too scared by their appearance and aura too.

"In second place we surprisingly have… Sabertooth!"

The Sabertooth Team consisted of Sting, Rogue, Rufus, Orga, and Yukino with Minerva as a reserve. The crowd cheered loudly and happily at their favorite team.

"In first place we have…. DRAGON HEART!"

The Dragon Heart Team consisted of Lila, Natsumi, Taichi, Mei, and Maria with another member named Alex as a reserve. The team waved at the crowd who cheered for them.

"Now that the introductions are over, let the Grand Magic Games officially begin!" Mato announced.

The teams smirked at each other competitive, though Lila glared at Fairy Tail, as fireworks sounded, officially opening the Grand Magic Games.

* * *

**Unknown Location**

"Everything is going according to plan Master," a female voice said, bowing down to the man that was her Master.

"Good. And Fairy Tail?" the man asked.

"Under my total control," the woman replied.

"You are doing very well… Manami," her Master told her.

Manami smiled up reverently at him and replied, "Thank you Master Rowan."

As Manami left, Rowan smiled sinisterly. Fiore had no idea what was coming.


	14. Anniversary Chapter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A little chapter for the anniversary of when I posted my first story

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: Hey everyone! Today is the 1 year anniversary of when I posted my first story and it's this story! Since this story is still going on since I rewrote it so I decoded to post this special chapter and two chapters of the story today. This chapter is kind of short and it'll make sense later once the story is finished. Anyways, since I will not be writing another author's note for the next two chapters (expect for the disclaimer), I hope you enjoy the next three chapters! Bye!
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail. Hiro Mashima does but I do own the OCs.

Lila set the flowers on the makeshift grave and stood up. It was the anniversary again and she escaped the guild for a minute to visit the grave.

She knelt in front of it and ran a gentle hand across it.

Then, she started to speak, "Hey. It's been awhile. I'm sorry I haven't visited in awhile but it's been crazy. It's been two years since your… and I still miss you. It hurts like crazy and I can't believe your… gone. Everyone's been affected by it but we're trying to move forward. It's hard. We have our good days and then we have bad days but we have each other, which makes it easier."

Lila took a deep breath and continued, "This… is probably the last time I'll be visiting for awhile. I've found someone. They will never replace you but they understand that which I am so grateful for. I know you would want me to move ahead and not allow you to dictate my life. I love you and I always will. Thank you for loving me and… goodbye."

Lila let some tears fall from her face but she wiped most of them away. She stood up and kissed the stone gently. As she walked towards the guild and her future, she felt peace and knew that somewhere,  _ **she**_  was smiling at her, feeling content and happy that she could finally move on.


	15. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first day of the Grand Magic Games begins!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail. Hiro Mashima does but I do own the OCs.

It was the night before the first day of the games and Natsumi couldn't sleep. She was excited of course but she was also very angsty. Seeing her old guild today sparked up a lot of bad memories that she desperately wanted to forget but found that she couldn't. Despite their betrayal, she had a lot of good memories of Fairy Tail.

"Hey, why aren't you asleep?" a voice from behind Natsumi asked.

Natsumi turned away from the window where she was thinking and found Lila behind, rubbing sleepy eyes.

"I couldn't sleep. Seeing Fairy Tail again has brought back all the memories from them, the good and the bad," Natsumi admitted, looking back at the window.

She heard footsteps before Lila stood next to her, saying, "I thought as much. Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not really," Natsumi said, resting her head on Lila's shoulder.

Lila hummed slightly but didn't say anything else. She gently stroked Natsumi's hair as the woman fell asleep on her shoulder. Lila picked Natsumi up and brought her to her bed where she tucked her in.

"Good night," Lila said, giving Natsumi a kiss on her forehead before returning to her own bed.

* * *

"Hello and welcome to the first day of the Grand Magic Games! I am your announcer Chapati Lola and next to me is Yajima, a former councilman. Yesterday, we introduced our teams so without further ado, let me explain the rules!" Chapati announced.

"Oh, this is so exciting!" Maria shouted in anticipation.

"It kind of is. It'll be fun to compete against all these other guilds," Mei said.

Taichi nodded, "This will be interesting."

Lila ignored the others and turned her attention to Natsumi, who was silent.

"Are you okay?" Lila whispered.

Natsumi looked at her and smiled weakly.

"I should be fine," Natsumi said.

Lila didn't say anything else but she looked sceptical at Natsumi's answer.

"There are five days of the Grand Magic Games. On each of those five days, we will have one event and four battles between the guilds. First place gets 10 points, second place gets 8 points, third place gets 6 points, fourth place gets 4 points, fifth place gets 3 points, sixth place gets 2 points, seventh place gets 1 point, and last place gets 0 points," Chapati started to explain.

Suddenly, a city started to build in the arena. Everyone stared at it in surprise, murmuring in anticipation.

"Woah! That's so cool!" Maria said, bouncing up and down.

"Our first event is Hidden! The rules are simple. The participants from each guild are teleported into the city you see before you. They will have no idea where the other participants are and they will be surrounded by clones of the participants. Attacking the real one will earn you a point and attacking a clone or being hit by someone will lose you a point. Now teams, choose your participant!" Chapati finished.

"Oh! Can I go?" Maria asked excitedly.

Taichi stepped up and said, "I think I should go. I have much better magic for this. We'll save you for the battles."

Lila nodded and agreement and said to the pouting Maria, "He's right Maria. You magic is better for one on one."

Maria continued to pout but did not say anything else.

"May the participants come to the field?" Chapati asked.

Taichi calmly walked to the arena along with Gray, Lyon, Nullpudding, Beth, Rufus, Eve, and Jagar. The participants were teleported to random locations in the magically made town. Clones of the participants were everywhere, surprising a couple of the people who had forgotten.

"Ready! Set! Start!" Chapati said.

Taichi closed his eyes and started to breath in and out slowly. He tapped into his magic and when he opened his eyes, they were no longer their usual color. One was glowing a bright green color while the other was a very dark shade of blue. Horns grew on his head and wings grew from his back but they were hidden with glamour magic. Taichi smirked wickedly. He looked more like a demon and less like a human.

Taichi began to look around. His magic abilities allowed him to locate the real person and not a clone. The nearest one to him was Gray. His smirk widened when he saw him and he licked his lips in anticipation. He took one step forward and disappeared from sight.

"And Taichi has disappeared! This is the first move he's made since the event started a few minutes ago!" Chapati announced.

Taichi re-appeared behind Gray and said quietly in his ear, "Got you."

Taichi punched Gray in the gut and he flew into a building.

Gray recovered quickly and said, "Ice Make: Sword!"

Gray threw the ice sword at Taichi who grabbed it before it hit him. Taichi ran at Gray who doesn't know where he was.

He whispered, "Demon Arts: Illusion Hell Fire."

The attack hit Gray and he fell to his knees as if he was on fire. Taichi disappeared again but did not attack Gray this time. Instead, he travelled to the tallest building.

"Demon Arts: Heaven's Punishment," he whispered.

He gathered his magic in his hand and looked at the town. He quickly spotted the real participants and aimed the attack. The attack hit and the others were chained down as something invisible hit them. The others tried to break free but failed.

' _I hope this ends soon because I'm almost out of magic,'_  Taichi thought to himself, slightly tired from using such a big attack.

After a few minutes, Mato announced, "Time is up!"

Taichi let go of the attack as the event ended, panting slightly from the overuse of his magic.

Natsumi leaned in worriedly as she said, "I hope he's okay. I know how much magic power that attack requires."

"He'll be fine Natsumi," Lila reassured the worried woman.

"Wow! In a spectacular display of magic, Taichi has taken the lead as well as the event! What do you think of this Yajima?" Chapati asked.

"I have never seen this type of magic before Chapati. It is certainly powerful and maybe even dangerous," Yajima said.

"Now for the final scores!" Chapati announced.

A hologram scoreboard appeared with the points. The scores were:

Dragon Heart: 10 pt

Sabertooth: 8 pt

Raven Tail: 6 pt

Lamia Scale: 4 pt

Blue Pegasus: 3 pt

Mermaid Heel: 2 pt

Quatro Puppy: 1 pt

Fairy Tail: 0 pt

"It is time for the battle portion of the day! Our viewers have voted and the first battle will be Flare vs Maria!"


	16. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The battle between Maria and Flare begins and ends and the first day of the Grand Magic Games is over

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail. Hiro Mashima does but I do own the OCs.

"Yeah! I'm going next!" Maria shouted excitedly, jumping up and down.

"Who's Flare though?" Mei asked.

"She's the one with the extremely long, red hair," Taichi said, appearing next to Mei, looking completely normal again.

The team looked at Raven Tail's section and noticed the girl right away.

"She does not look pleasant," Natsumi commented.

"Who wants to bet her magic has something to do with her hair?" Lila asked.

"That's a fool's bet. Maria has this won easily," Taichi said confidently.

Natsumi grinned and slung an arm around Maria as she said, "Of course. No one can beat us, alone or together."

"Can Flare and Maria come to the field?" Chapati asked.

Maria, in her excitement, jumped down from their seating area where they watched the events and battles. Flare calmly walked down.

"The rules for the battle are simple. You have thirty minutes to beat your opponent and if you do, the other person wins. Are the fighters ready?" Chapati asked.

The two nodded so Chapati announced, "Begin!"

Flare was the first person to make her move. She used her hair like a whip and tried to hit Maria. Maria dodged the attack easily by jumping in the air. She landed behind Flare and started to gather her magic.

"Nature Art: Vines!" Maria shouted as vines began to shoot out from the ground.

Flare tried to dodge them all but one vine managed to hit her in the leg and another managed to trap her hair. More vines started to trap Flare and she started to struggle to get out.

Maria grinned widely and whispered, "Nature Art: Poisonous Flowers."

Flowers started to grow around Flare and released a green fume. Flare started to inhale it and struggled even more to break free. She finally broke free and used her hair to attack Maria. The hair lunged at Maria who smiled innocently.

"Got you," Maria whispered.

She grabbed her knives from its holster and started to cut Flare's hair. Flare watched and and yelled, "No! My hair!"

"And that's game!" a voice said from behind her.

Flare turned around just as Maria punched her. She flew back and when she finally recovered, vines slithered up t her and bound her together. It squeezed her harder and harder before Flare fell unconscious.

"I win!" Maria said happily.

"It seems like we have our winner! Maria from Dragon Heart has won the battle for her guild!" Chapati announced.

The crowd cheered for Maria, who bowed dramatically to them. She bowed one last time before going back to her team.

"Good job Maria," Natsumi congratulated her.

"Good match," Lila said with a nod.

"Thanks," Maria said with a slight blush.

"Now onto the second battle! For this battle, we have…."

* * *

The day flew by after Maria's battle. Jura won his battle against Arana easily as did Orga against Warcry. The battle between Ren and Levy was pretty even and the battle ended in a tie.

The final scored were:

Dragon Heart: 20 pt

Sabertooth: 18 pt

Lamia Scale: 14 pt

Blue Pegasus: 8 pt

Raven Tail: 6 pt

Fairy Tail: 5 pt

Mermaid Heel: 2 pt

Quatro Puppy: 1 pt

"And that concludes the first day of the Grand Magic Games! Tomorrow will hold more excitement so make sure to come watch!" Chapati said.

"Come on! Let's get some food to celebrate the first day!" Natsumi shouted, running the hotel to get changed.

"Wait for us!" Lila scolded, running to catch up to her.

The rest of their team shook their heads and calmly walked behind the two as they started to argue.

* * *

"To Maria and Taichi!" Natsumi cheered, raising her mug of fire whiskey.

"To Maria and Taichi!" the rest chorused, lifting up their own mugs.

After Maria's battle, they found the rest of their guild and decided to celebrate Maria and Taichi's victory and the beginning of the Grand Magic Games.

"Thanks you guys," Maria said with a bright smile.

"Thank you," Taichi also said.

"You guys did great today. We're in the lead," Lila said.

Maria puffed up her chest proudly and Taichi just smiled.

"So what's the game plan?" Elizabeth (the guildmaster) asked.

Natsumi set down her mug and answered, "I think I should participate in the next event." The others looked at Natsumi in surprise.

"Really? But you said you didn't want to show your skills yet," Mei asked confused.

Natsumi smiled mysteriously, "I have a feeling that the next event won't require my true skills. It's best I participate now when I don't have to use my true skills."

Lila hummed in thought and said, "That's a good idea."

The others, while still unsure, nodded in agreement and the party went on.

* * *

In contrast to the party that was going on with Dragon Heart, Fairy Tail was very serious. Even though they tied in the battle portion of the day, they were crushed by most of the other guilds and they had no idea what to do. They spent the night planning and talking about all the guilds.

"Now let's talk about Dragon Heart. Gray, what was Taichi like?" Erza said.

"He was brutal. I didn't hear what magic he used but it was powerful and dangerous. I was powerless against him," Gray answered with a small shudder.

"And the girl Maria?" Erza asked.

"We know she uses nature magic but we don't know to what extent," Manami replied.

Erza slammed her fist on the table, "What about their teammates?"

"I did some research and I found that there names were Lila, Mei, and Ryo. They're are the most powerful members of their team and the guild. Lila and Ryo are also the founders of Dragon Heart," Levy answered.

"What are their powers?" Luke asked curiously.

"Lila and Ryo's powers are actually unknown because they rarely use them. Mei was a former assassin so she has the skills of one as well as her magic," Levy explained.

"That's a scary thought. Someone more powerful than them? That's terrifying," Luke said.

Erza nodded and asked, "What should we do?"

"Train and hope you don't go up against them," Levy said.

"I have a really bad feeling about this," Gray muttered and the others agreed with him.

Something bad was going to happen and pretty soon too.

* * *

"Hey Natsumi," Lila said as she sat down next to Natsumi later that evening.

Natsumi was sitting by the window again. She barely looked at Lila but laid her head on her shoulder. Lila stroked her hair gently and started to hum. Before long, she was singing a short lullaby.

_Go to sleep child_

_And have sweet dreams_

_Dream the night away_

_And when you wake I'll be there_

_To greet you every day_

Natsumi sighed contently and fell asleep. Lila continued to sing while stroking Natsumi's hair until she also fell asleep.


	17. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: Hey everyone! OMG, I didn't realize it's been so long since I updated until I looked at the updated date. I'm sorry it's been awhile but the past few weeks have been chaotic. I'm not making excuses, I'm just stating a fact. I've had a little bit of writer's block regarding these stories but I hope to be back on a regular schedule after this.
> 
> I also have a bit of news. I have decided on the pairing for this story and it will be... Lila x Natsumi! After much debate, I decided to pair Lila and Natsumi together but it will be awhile until they confess. But please expect a lot of cute moments between the two~!  
> Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy! Bye!
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail. Hiro Mashima does but I do own the OCs.

**Unknown Location**

“Are the preparations complete?” Master Rowan asked Manami.

 

“Yes Master,” she replied.

 

“Good. Get ready to move out,” Master Rowan commanded.

 

“Of course,” Manami answered as she bowed and left.

 

_‘Soon Natsumi Dragneel. Soon, you will pay for what you have done and I will have my revenge._ ’

* * *

“Hello and welcome to the second day of the Grand Magic Games!” Chapati said to the cheering crowd.

 

“Yesterday, we ended with a battle against Maria from Dragon Heart and Flare from Raven Tail. We currently have Dragon Heart with Fairy Tail in last place. For today’s event, we are competing in… Chariot!” Chapati announced.

 

The hologram screen popped up and showed a line of logs in a row. “The rules are simple: the first one to the finish line wins! However, the logs will be moving and hindering you as you go and the other players can use their magic to gain an advantage. Now choose which guild member will compete in this event!” Chapati explained.

 

Natsumi’s team turned to her worriedly since she had volunteered the day before to.

 

Natsumi smiled at Lila and said reassuredly, “I’ll be fine Lila.”

 

Lila nodded reluctantly.

 

Natsumi clapped her hands together and said, “Well, I better get going. See you after I win!”

 

“Good luck!” Maria cheered excitedly.

 

The contestants walked to the field where they were teleported to the beginning of the line. Natsumi spotted Sting smirking smugly at her, and she grinned creepily in response. Sting shuddered and quickly looked away. Natsumi smirked when he looked away.

 

“Contestants are at the starting line! Let the race begin in 3! 2! 1! Go!” Chapati announced.

 

Almost immediately, Natsumi used her fire magic to propel her. Around her, everyone was using their magic to gain the lead, except for Sting.

 

“Hey Sting, what’s wrong?!” she asked him.

 

Sting looked slightly green and replied, “M-motion sickness.”

 

Natsumi stared at him for a moment before bursting out laughing. She couldn’t stop laughing and Sting pouted at her.

 

“T-that’s hilarious!” Natsumi said through her laughter, tears almost leaking out of her eyes from laughing too much.

 

“It’s not funny!” Sting yelled at her.

 

“Yeah, it is! See you at the finish line!” she yelled before she sped ahead.

 

She tried to speed up but her own motion sickness caught up to her, causing Sting to laugh at her in revenge for laughing at him before. In the end, Bacchus won the event and Natsumi got 7th place while Sting got last place. The scores were now:

 

Dragon Heart: 21 pt

Sabertooth: 18 pt

Lamia Scale: 17 pt

Raven Tail: 14 pt

Fairy Tail: 11 pt

Quatro Puppy: 11 pt

Mermaid Heel: 10 pt

Blue Pegasus: 10 pt

 

“Now onto the battles! The first battle for today will be Erza vs Alexei!”

 

Erza’s battle against Alexei was very interesting, especially as it was revealed that Alexei was actually Ivan Dryer, the guild master of Raven Tail. Because of that, they were disqualified.

 

Other than that, the battles were uninteresting until Dragon Heart’s battle.

 

“Now for the last battle of the day! Our first contestant is Mei from Dragon Heart!” Chapati said, causing cheers to ring through the stadium.

 

Mei silently walked to the field while the others wished her luck from their area.

 

“And her opponent is Hibiki from Blue Pegasus!” Chapati said, causing females to cheer louder than they were before.

 

Hibiki blew kisses to a few of them as he walked into the arena, causing a few of them to faint.

 

“Are the contestants ready?” Chapati asked.

 

When both of them nodded, Chapati said, “THEN LET THE BATTLE… BEGIN!”

 

Immediately, Mei disappeared from view, leaving everyone except her guild to wonder where she was.

 

“It seems like Mei has disappeared! Where could she be?” Chapati asked his fellow announcer.

 

“Mei is said to be a former assassin. She is used to being in the shadows, attacking people when they least expect it. Her magic is also very powerful. No one who is still alive has ever seen it before, causing many to wonder what it is. I wonder if we will be able to today,” Yamija explained.

 

Hibiki, meanwhile, was trying to find out where Mei is.

 

_‘Where could she be? Above me? On the sides?’_ he wondered.

 

And then it hit him. Literally.

 

Shadows, literal shadows, were surrounding him without him even noticing. One had struck him in the arm, and he when he tried to move it, he found that he couldn’t.

 

_‘She’s in the shadows!’_ Hibiki realized.

 

Mei, seeing his look of realization, smirked and struck once again. This time, it hit his legs, leaving him stuck in place.

 

Hibiki, panicking a little, shot a Force Blast at the shadows, causing them to go back. He quickly shot more out, having realized this delayed them. But as he was doing this, Mei rose from the shadows and quickly drew her dagger and hitting his head with the bottom of it, causing him to lose conscious.

 

“A-amazing! In a surprise move, Mei has won the battle! Is there an explanation for this Yamija?” Chapati asked.

 

As the crowd cheered, Yamija explained, “Mei’s magic relates to the shadows. From what it looks like, she can command them to do whatever she wants and seems to have special abilities like paralysis and maybe even poison. She can also hide in them, making it great to sneak up on opponents. But if light magic is shot at it, it causes it to recoil.”

 

Chapati nodded at his explanation and announced, “There you have it folks! Mei has won 10 more points for Dragon Heart! Here are the new scores!”

  


Dragon Heart: 31 pt

Fairy Tail: 21 pt

Mermaid Heel: 20 pt

Sabertooth: 18 pt

Lamia Scale: 17 pt

Raven Tail: 14 pt

Quatro Puppy: 11 pt

Mermaid Heel: 20 pt

Blue Pegasus: 10 pt

  


“In a surprise move, Fairy Tail has moved to second place with Mermaid Heel following closely behind! Dragon Heart should watch out because one of them might take the lead! With that said, this concludes the second day of the Grand Magic Games! We will continue tomorrow so make sure to be there!” Chapati said.

 

And with that, the second day was over.

* * *

“I can’t believe Fairy Tail is in second place!” Natsumi said, a little frustrated.

 

Lila nodded, “That is surprising considering they were gone for seven years.”

 

“We have to make sure they don’t win!” Natsumi said determinedly.

 

“Make sure who doesn’t win?” a gruff voice from behind them asked.

 

Lila and Natsumi turned around in surprise and Natsumi immediately brightened when she realized who it was.

 

“Laxus-nii-san! Gajeel!”


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: Hey everyone and Happy Belated Holidays and New Years! I'm sorry I haven't updated in awhile but a lot of stuff happened and this ended up getting delayed. Anyways, I will be updating regularly for sure now. I plan to update two days a week on Tuesday and Friday. Speaking of which, I finally know how the story is going to end and this is going to end up being 23 chapters long (excluding the anniversary chapter). So we have 6 chapters left. I'm really excited to end this story after a year of working on it and I hope you are too! Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter!
> 
> Disclaimer: I do now own Fairy Tail. Hiro Mashima does but I do own the OCs.

The pair smirked at Natsumi and Laxus said in a somewhat fond voice (for him at least), “Brat.”

 

Natsumi beamed at them, walking towards them to give them a hug.

 

“I thought you guys wouldn’t make it on time,” Lila commented, crossing her arms.

 

Laxus scoffed and replied, “The mission was too easy. And besides, Natsu would kill me if I missed this.”

 

“You’re damn right I would,” Natsumi said, stepping back from the pair.

 

Laxus and Gajeel hadn’t changed much in the past seven years. The only differences were the numerous scars that they had and their slightly older looks. But they were definitely stronger, both physically and magically.

 

They looked worried however. Natsumi had gotten really good at observing people and though it may not seem like it to a normal person, Laxus and Gajeel were tense. They stood straight and stiff, as if they were expecting a fight and their hands were clenched.

 

“What’s wrong?” Natsumi asked.

 

“Of course you would notice,” Gajeel muttered.

 

It was Laxus who answered the question, “Oaktown was attacked.”

 

Natsumi and Lila straightened up and grew serious.

 

“What?” Lila asked.

 

“A dark guild attacked, and we were too late to stop them. They took over the town, and they were looking for Natsumi,” Gajeel reported.

 

Lila growled protectively but Natsumi smiled. It was a cold, dark smile with promise of bloodshed and terror for the poor fools who attacked them.

 

“What’s the name of the guild?” Natsumi asked, poisoningly sweet.

 

Suddenly, everyone couldn’t help but almost feel bad for the dark guild. Almost. They did attack their town after all.

 

“They call themselves the Avengers.”

* * *

After the meeting, Lila couldn’t help but wonder. Earlier, when Gajeel said they were looking for Natsumi, she couldn’t help but feel… protective. Her heart clenched at the thought of Natsumi being hurt and there was always this indescribable feeling when someone flirted with her.

 

Just the thought of it brought back the feeling and Lila had to wonder what it was.

 

But it wasn’t only that. When Natsumi smiled at her or even laughed at something she told her, it was like she had butterflies in her stomach. And she caught herself smiling at random times of the day just because she thought of Natsumi.

 

_‘Ohhhh,’_ she thought to herself, realization hitting her like a brick, _‘I’m in love with Natsumi.’_

 

That was the only real explanation. Natsumi was her best friend, the one she could trust no matter what, and the one she could really open up to. And in return, Natsumi returned that trust by telling her Natsumi’s story.

 

Lila didn’t panic like she’s seen some people do. She accepted it for what it was. And maybe one day, she would be able to tell her that she loves her.

* * *

The next day of the Grand Magic Games went… pretty well all things considered. Erza won the first event but the others couldn't. The event was beating monsters of various levels but Erza managed to beat all of them. Because of that, they had a second event where they tested their strongest magic attack.

 

The battles went pretty well to at first until Chapati announced…

 

“For our last battle of the day we have Dragon Heart’s Lila! And her opponent will be Fairy Tail’s Manami!”

 

Natsumi couldn’t help but burst out laughing.

 

“T-this — hahahahaha — is too — hahaha — good!” she said through her laughter.

 

The others couldn’t help but be amused too. Taichi and Mei were smirking, Maria was giggling madly, and Lila let out a few chuckles.

 

But Lila suddenly laughed maniacally and she smiled coldly.

 

“Well, guess it’s my turn. Don’t bother wishing me luck, I won’t need it,” she said before walking towards the arena.

 

Manami smirks confidently at her opponent when she arrived in the arena. She was confident that she would win. After all, this girl probably wasn’t even on Erza’s level.

 

“Are the fighters ready?” Chapati asked.

 

The two girls nodded their heads but their gaze was only on the other, sizing the other up. Lila knew that this match was going to be quick, but she was going to make it last as long as possible.

 

“Begin!”

 

Manami smiled cockily. While she did have quite a bit of physical prowess, her real strength was controlling people’s minds to do whatever she wanted. And if that didn’t work… well, she had a couple other abilities she could use too.

 

Acting quickly, she focused on Lila’s mind but made sure to survey her surroundings. Lila didn’t move from her spot, making it easier on Manami to focus.

 

Manami was surprised to find mental shields in Lila’s mind, but she quickly brushed it off. Mental shields were very easy to bypass, especially by those with weak magic.

 

_‘You think you can stop me? How naive,’_ she said to Lila mentally.

 

Lila smirked at her before brutally mentally slamming into her. It caused quite the headache for Manami as Lila continued to slam into her, pushing her back. Eventually, she had to retreat.

 

_‘You think you can control me? How naive,’_ Lila mocked.

 

Lila had studied mind magic since she met Natsumi and grew close to her, all in preparation for battling Manami. She was really surprised that no one in Fairy Tail was able to fight against her but then again, they didn’t even know Manami was in control.

 

_‘This is going to_ **_fun_ ** _,’_ she thought, grinning sadistically.

 

“You know, I was waiting for this day,” she said out loud, casually walking towards Manami.

 

Manami glared at her as she prepared her next attack.

 

“You see, I meet this woman seven years ago. She had pretty pink hair and gorgeous brown eyes,” she continued.

 

Fairy Tail's (as well as everyone else’s) eyes widened as they realized who she was talking about. Natsumi blushed at Lila’s description while Manami flew into a rage.

 

“DON’T TALK ABOUT THAT WOMAN IN MY PRESENCE!” she screamed.

 

In addition to mind magic, Manami had mastered one other type of magic, but she rarely used it except for emergencies. It was a very dangerous magic, so she didn’t feel the need to learn more because it was so powerful already. It didn’t mean she was helpless though as she knew a couple other things too, like how to assassinate someone.

 

“Requip: Poison Dagger,” she whispered quietly as she waited for Lila to come closer.

 

“She committed suicide and even though I tried to save her, she ultimately died. Before she died, she told me everything that happened and I vowed to her that I would defeat you. Once I defeat you, my revenge will be complete and I think Natsumi would finally be able to rest in peace knowing her killer was defeated,” Lila said, fabricating a different story.

 

Lila stopped just a few feet in front of Manami. She was no longer grinning sadistically but instead had a cold smile on her face. Manami took this chance to try to stab her but before she could, she felt heat near her feet.

 

She looked down and found that her legs were on fire. She could feel herself burning, and she tried not to scream. The fire also appeared on her arms and face, scarring the once perfect skin. The fire went out quickly though, leaving her with 1st degree burns.

 

Manami looked at Lila with blazing eyes and said, “Damn you…. Damn you to hell!”

 

She once again tried to attack her, too far in her rage to think rationally. Lila just stared blankly at her and before she knew it, she was struck by her own poison dagger.

 

“The dagger is filled with tetrodotoxin. It is very lethal and death can occur between 20 minutes to a day. The effects are not pleasant and while there is a cure, you will suffer for a while until it goes away. This match is over. Have fun recovering.”

 

With that said, Lila walked out of the arena while medics rushed to treat Manami.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And cut! Just for the record, Manami will not die. Sorry but she is needed for the climax of this story. Just wanted to get that out there for anyone who looks up the poison I used. Just say it was on the far side. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed and I'll see you on Tuesday!


	19. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: Hey everyone! So i have a new schedule now and I am really satisfied with it. I will be posting a new chapter twice a week on Tuesday and Friday. I have to say. this chapter is okay. Things kind of escalate here but the real action starts next chapter. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy!
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail. Hiro Mashima does but I do own the OCs.

“What did you think of the show?” Natsumi asked in greeting to Laxus and Gajeel when she was back at the hotel.

 

Laxus and Gajeel grinned sadistically in response before Laxus replied, “It was good. Remind me to thank Lila later.”

 

Natsumi rolled her eyes at their responses as she replied, “I think it was a little too brutal for me. As much as I hate her, I hate torturing people even more. At least, physical torture though emotional torture can be just as bad.”

 

Laxus softened at her reply He often forgot how she felt about everything, too lost in his anger **_for_ ** her. Laxus, and even Gajeel for that matter, saw Natsumi as a little sister that they needed to protect. He was still very angry at Fairy Tail for their betrayal, but betrayal, but he would never act on his anger unless Natsumi was okay with it. And if that day never came… well, Fairy Tail should just pray that it never does.

 

Laxus walked up to give her a hug that she gladly snuggles into. Eventually, she dragged Gajeel in too and if anyone passing by saw them, they’d think it was just three siblings, enjoying each other’s company.

* * *

The fourth day of the Grand Magic Games was supposed to run smoothly. Key word: supposed.

 

“Now our next match is…”

 

Chapati was interrupted however by an explosion. As is a switch went off, there was instant panic. People were screaming in terror while the competitors were alert. Another explosion went off, this time closer to the arena.

 

“Oh no,” Natsumi whispered, realizing what was going on.

 

Suddenly, a voice boomed throughout the city, “Attention all citizens of Fiore! My name is Rowan. I am the master of the Avengers guild. For too long, we have been wringer by wizarding guilds. They have lied to us and hurt us. They say they are trying to help but end up destroying buildings and property, ruining people's lives. My family was killed by these people and I have vowed revenge. Join us or face the consequences!”

 

The guilds looked on in terror. Natsumi however looked resigned and tired. She looked like she aged a couple years. She knew that people were not happy with all the things they had destroyed. She had tried to cut back but things were destroyed anyways. She unintentionally destroyed people, and she felt incredibly guilty for it. And now, it was coming back to bite her in the butt. It was coming back to bite all of them.

 

“My loyal servant. You have served me for years now and I will always be grateful. It is time to reveal yourself and take your rightful place at my side as we recreate the world. As for Natsumi Dragneel. For too long you have hid yourself after faking your death. It is time that you pay the consequences. We are merciful however, unlike you, so if you turn yourself in 24 hours, we will, spare your friend and give you a quick, painless death. Your time starts now.”

 

And with that, Rowan cut off the message, leaving everyone hooked and Dragon Heart resigned.

 

Natsumi knew this day would eventually come. She had waited in both anxiety and anticipation. She hadn’t expected it to be so soon. She began to panic. She wasn’t ready. She couldn’t face the people who had mourned her death while she lived happily, and she definitely couldn't face Fairy Tail.

 

She was lucky though as maniacal laughter suddenly rang throughout the area. Everyone looked at the source only to see Manami in the arena.

 

“I have waited for this day for so long. For years, I have hidden, acting like the Golden Girl and turning people to our side. It's been fun to play with you all but I’m afraid that I have to go. Master Rowan is expecting me after all. This is not the last time you will see me though. I have one person I need to kill. I have no need for Fairy Tail anymore. Have fun in hell,” she said before disappearing like she wasn't there in the first place.

 

There was silence for a minute before Lila summed up all their thoughts with one word, “Shit.”


	20. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: You guys are either going to love me or hate me for this chapter. Usually, I would be happy and greet everyone but I am really nervous about this chapter. I'm going to have an author's note at the end to address some stuff. So see you down there! I hope you enjoy!
> 
> Disclaimer: I do now own Fairy Tail. Hiro Mashima does but I do own the OCs.

After Manami's reveal, everything was in chaos. The civilians were panicking and the mages weren't much better. All the mages had gathered in the arena while the civilians stayed in the stand or went home. Everyone was shouting but no one could understand one another.

Lila, finally fed up, shouted, "Everyone, SHUT UP!"

Everyone immediately shut up, in fear of Lila's wrath and paid attention.

"Now I know everyone is confused. I think I may be able to answer a few questions that you guys may have," Lila announced calmly.

Fairy Tail was a bit hazy as they were just released from Manami's control but Luke, in horror at what he and the rest had done, asked what was on most people's minds.

"What happened to Natsumi?"

Lila was silent for a moment. She knew this question would come up, but she was worried. Natsumi was in no shape to reveal herself. So therein lies the question, tell the truth or lie again?

She was interrupted from her thoughts by someone laying an arm on her shoulder. She looked to her left and saw Natsumi looking at her with a small smile.

"It's time," she whispered.

Lila nodded and took a deep breath, and then she began.

"Some of what I said was true. Natsumi did try to commit suicide but I lied when I said I couldn't save her. I nursed her back to full health, and we became fast friends. Natsumi thought it would be better if no one knew she was alive and only few people know it. I've known Natsumi for seven years now, and we have traveled together for all the years I've known her," she explained.

With each passing word, Fairy Tail felt guiltier and guiltier. Juvia took a shuddering breath as Lila explained everything. She could hardly believe it. Her best friend, her  _ **sister**_ , was alive.

"Where is she?" Juvia whispered desperately.

"She's here in the arena," she answered.

Natsumi took that moment to take off her disguise and with a soft smile to everyone, she said, "Hey guys."

And Juvia collapsed into tears.

* * *

Juvia had always pondered the what ifs. She knew it wasn't healthy, and she tried to move past it, but they kept coming up.

What if Fairy Tail didn't betray Natsumi? What if Juvia didn't become her friend? What if Manami hadn't even come in the first place? What if Natsumi didn't try to commit suicide? What if…

And it continued on and on, and she just wanted it to  **stop**. She always told herself that Natsumi would not want her to mourn her for long and at least try to be happy. And she did sort of find happiness. Wendy had become a little sister to her and Lamia Scale was very kind to the both of them.

She had recovered slightly when she visited Natsumi's grave. She had finally made peace with herself and was ready to move on fully. But hearing that Natsumi was alive, her world collapsed around her.

But she was happy. Happy that her sister was alive and well. That she was able to move on from Fairy Tail's betrayal even if only slightly.

She could be angry for not telling her, but she understood. And she would be there to support Natsumi just like she had all those years ago.

* * *

Sting was the first one to recover from his shock.

"Ryo?! You're Natsumi?" he shouted in shock.

Natsumi smiled sheepishly at him and said, "Yeah. Sorry for keeping it from you."

"Well damn," he muttered to himself.

Natsumi grinned at his reply before turning her eyes to Juvia. Juvia was crying, tears running down her face and Natsumi was worried.

"Juvia?" she called out tentatively, holding out her hand.

Juvia looked up at her, and with a watery smile, tackled her into a hug.

"Natsumi!" she said, sobbing into her shirt.

Natsumi smiled at her sister and hugged her back, glad that they were reunited.

"We have a lot to talk about after this mess is over," she whispered.

Juvia pulled back and with a bright smile, she whispered back, "Yeah, we do."

Lila couldn't help but watch the reunion with a small smile on her face. Lila had heard a lot about Juvia over the last seven years and was really grateful to her for everything that she did. Out of everyone, Juvia was the one she was most excited to meet.

Natsumi looked past Juvia to where Wendy was standing, a smile on her face and tears running down too.

She walked towards her and when she was a few feet away, she said, "Come here you."

Wendy tackled her into a hug, almost knocking her down as Wendy buried her face into Natsumi's shoulders. Natsumi wrapped her arms around her and whispered quiet assurances into her ears.

Eventually, Wendy pulled away and said quietly, "I'm glad you're back."

Natsumi grinned and said, "Okaeri."

"Tadaima, Natsumi-nee-san."

* * *

Luke was the first one of approach Natsumi.

He was one of the ones that felt the most guilt because he was one of the closest people to Natsumi when they betrayed her.

Natsumi watched him warily as did some of Natsumi's friends. Luke felt a stab of jealousy at brown-haired woman who was the closest to Natsumi. He pushed that aside though.

"What do you want?" the brown haired woman, Lila, Luke's brain provided, asked in a harsh voice.

Luke gulped and stuttered out, "I-I came to apologize."

"She won't…" Lila's response was cut off by Natsumi holding up a hand.

"Let him speak," was all she said.

Luke took a deep breath and began, "What I and everyone else did was inexcusable. We should not have allowed Manami to take control. We should have fought back. What I did was my own fault, even if Manami was controlling me. I ruined one of the bests things that happened to me and I will never be able to repay that. You don't have to forgive me and I don't expect you to. Just know that I will always regret my actions and I will never try to talk to you again."

Natsumi and Lila stared at him, the former calculating and the latter angrily.

"I forgive you," Natsumi said.

Luke stared at her in surprise and asked, "W-what?"

"I forgive you. It would do me no good to hate you for the rest of my life. Hating someone is tiring and some people go their whole lives hating someone. I don't want to die regretting anything. Of course, we will never have what we used to but it's a start. So it's nice to meet you. My name is Natsumi Dragneel."

Luke realized what Natsumi was doing, so he smiled back and shook the hand she held out.

"Luke Heartfilia. Nice to meet you too."

It wasn't much but like Natsumi said, it was a start. So while there were still some old wounds that would never heal, they would try to move past it. And that was all Luke could ask for.

* * *

After all the introductions and reunions were done, everyone grew serious. The so called Avengers were still a threat, and they had less than 24 hours now to think of a plan.

"What do we do?" Sting asked.

They had been planning for at least an hour now and no one had any good ideas. Ideas were thrown around but they always had flaws. Natsumi was uncharacteristically silent which made Lila worried,

"Is something wrong Natsumi?" she asked.

Everyone turned to the woman in concern. Natsumi's face was one of acceptance and guilt.

"Natsumi?" Lila coaxed.

"I'm going to turn myself in."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And cut! I know everyone (or at least most people) wanted Fairy Tail to not be forgiven and for them to suffer. And they were going too! I swear I wanted to do that but then I wrote this and it seemed like something Natsumi would do. It doesn't mean they are off the hook though. Natsumi may have forgiven them but Lila and the others have not. They will get their just desserts eventually so don't worry.
> 
> On a brighter note, I hope everyone enjoyed the reunion. I was really pleased by how this turned out and I really enjoyed writing this.
> 
> Anyways, that's all I have to say so I hope you enjoyed! See you on Friday!


	21. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: Hello everyone! I have had a terrible two weeks. A lot has gone on in my life since I last posted and I've spent the last week and a half planning all my stories. Part of me is so proud of myself while the other feels bad for not updating as frequently. Anyways, we are in the final stretch and I am honestly both excited and bittersweet about ending this, even more so than all my other stories. This was the first story I ever posted on here so it's special. Anyways guys, I hope you enjoy as always and I'll see you next time! Bye!
> 
> PS: Also, I have no experience in the romance department. I have read books and fanfiction with romance but I have no other experience so please bae with me. Thank you!
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail. Hiro Mashima does but I do own the OCs.

“W-what?” Lila asked, taking a step back.

 

Everyone else looked as shocked at Lila and Natsumi sighed.

 

“I’m going to turn myself in,” Natsumi repeated.

 

“You can’t do that! They’ll kill you!” Lila protested.

 

“It’s better than all of you being killed!” Natsumi countered.

 

The two continued to argue but everyone else remained silent. They all liked Natsumi to an extent, and they knew what she was planning to do was suicide.

 

“Why do you care so much?” Natsumi demanded.

 

“Because I love you!” Lila shouted.

 

There was a moment of silence as everyone took in Lila’s words. Even though it could have been seen as sisterly love, everyone knew it was something more. Lila was confused at first but one look at Natsumi’s wide eyes made her realize what she said.

 

“Damn it,” she cursed under her breath.

 

“Y-you love me?” Natsumi asked, stuttering slightly.

 

“This is not how I wanted to tell you,” Lila muttered, confirming what she said.

 

There was an awkward silence as many people knew that they were intruding a private conversation. Many looked away and shuffled their feet nervously.

 

“We need to have this conversation elsewhere,” Natsumi said, voicing their thoughts.

 

Lila silently nodded, and they went to one of the side rooms in the entrance of the arena.

 

It was Sting that broke the silence that surrounded everyone first.

 

“Well that was unexpected.”

* * *

Natsumi gently closed the door to the room she and Lila had entered. She leaned against it and sighed. She let her arms fall to her side and tried to look at anything besides Lila.

 

For her part, Lila seemed pretty calm. At least on the surface. Inside, she was freaking out. Out of all the scenarios she had imagined on how she would tell Natsumi her feelings, this was not one of them.

 

“When did you start loving me?” Natsumi asked, deciding to break the silence that had enveloped the two.

 

Lila looked to the side as she replied, “I didn’t know until a couple days ago but looking back, probably for several years now. It was a gradual thing as I got to know you better and grow alongside you. It was probably the ‘Incident’ that solidify my love for you.”

 

Natsumi was surprised that she had loved her for so long. The ‘Incident’ that Lila spoke of was when people foolishly tried to attack Lila in a back alley and wanted to have a little “fun” with her. Lila was able to take most of them out, but they eventually found a way to stop her from performing magic. Lila was also exhausted from using so much of her magic. She wasn’t as used to it or as powerful as she was now. Luckily, Natsumi had found her and beat the men until they either fled or unconscious.

 

“Oh,” was all she said.

 

There was another silence for a moment before Lila spoke up, “I know that you may not like me back but…”

 

Before Lila could finish, however, Natsumi had walked towards her and pushed her lips against hers. The kiss was chaste, filled with love and relief. It only lasted for a couple seconds before Natsumi pulled back. Lila stared at Natsumii in surprise at her bold move.

 

Natsumi grinned at her and said, “You’re an idiot if you think I wouldn’t return your feelings.”

 

Lila didn’t answer her and instead, pulled her into a kiss, one that Natsumi happily returned. When they finally pulled back, they were both smiling and even though they didn’t say anything, they both knew what the other felt.

 

_I love you._

* * *

When the twenty-four hours was up, Manami felt disappointed. She had expected that Natsumi would come but it seems that she was too much of a coward to do so. She sighed and was about to order one of her lackeys to get Master Rowan when a messenger rushed in.

 

“Commander Manami, I have a message,” he said, standing at attention.

 

Manami glared at him and said, “I can see that. What is it?”  


The messenger gulped before shakily replying, “Na-natsumi Dragneel has turned herself in.”

 

Manami smirked in both victory and satisfaction.

 

“Good. Bring her to me,” she ordered.

 

“Yes Commander!” the messenger saluted before running away.

 

It was a few minutes later that the messenger reappeared, this time with Natsumi. Natsumi looked resigned as if she knew she couldn’t win. Manami felt smug at that.

 

“Ah, Natsumi, how nice of you to join us,” she mocked.

 

Natsumi stared up at her expressionless and asked, “What do you want?”

 

“Why your death of course!” she said mock cheerfully.

 

Natsumi glared at her, causing her smirk to become a smile.

 

“Look at it this way Natsumi, your little friends will receive Master Rowan;s mercy, which is more than you ever granted us,” Manami said, patting Natsumi’s cheek in mock comfort.

 

Whatever Natsumi was about to say was interrupted by an explosion.

 

“What was that?” Manami demanded, straightening instantly.

 

As if hearing her question, a messenger, different from the one that delivered Natsumi, rushed in.

 

“Commander Manami! We’re under attack!”

**Author's Note:**

> And cut! So usually I write an author's note at the end and the beginning of a chapter but now I don't have much to write. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I hope see you in the next one! Bye!


End file.
